5th Degree
by Bishy-Chicobo
Summary: Five different lives intertwine together, shattering the worlds of those involved: Sora, Riku, Naminé, Sephiroth,and The Organazation. AU, Yaoi.
1. Unfolding Friends

**-Chapter I  
Unfolding Friends-**

A warm breeze blew over the palm trees, rocking the coconuts back and forth and the sand flew around the great yellow beach. The sun has passed noon but still heated the ocean which in turn tried to cool off the pair of feet which bathed in it.

The tall boy looked out into the open perched on his rock. His green eyes watched the faraway waves crash against each other. His long silver hair dripped salty water around him and his white shirt has turned transparent at the contact of water. What a boring day.

"Ugh!" The boy jumped back in the warm water and swam towards the beach shore. The swim wasn't long but his thoughts seemed to slow down time. Nothing to do but think and think lately. Nothing to really think about but more remembering the good days, back when he was where he belonged, but not here.

Upon arriving to the beach, he looked all around him. Nobody was here, you'd think the local islanders and tourists would enjoy coming to the beach on days like these. He felt alone and cold from the clothes which stuck against his skin.

"Riku, Honey!" A female voice shouted from afar. "Pic-nic's ready!"

"Coming." Hollered back Riku, running towards her.

Miyo was standing on the cliche red and white squared pic-nic cloth. In the middle lay a large basket left open with sandwiches and drinks already out and ready to eat. His mother picked a spot where the tall palm trees covered the area with their shadows leaving it cool and shady.

"Here you go, sweetie." She smiled and handed him a tuna sandwich. Her long brown curls hung down to her ears and her yellow top had a small patch of mayonnaise on it. "Hope you're hungry. I made a lot." She smiled for a while longer while she adjusted her blue skirt and settle herself on the cloth and stared at Riku until he took his first bite.

"Thanks." Muttered Riku without cheer and sat with his legs crossed. He ate it slowly, not feeling a bit hungry and somehow became sad since he won't be able to make him mom happy by eating all of the sandwiches like he used to. He didn't like disappointing her even for something as small as this but today he really didn't care enough to make an effort.

"I guess you didn't find any other kids to play with, didn't you?" She sighed and looked at him sadly. "Well school starts in a week, I'm sure you'll make many new friends." She waited for him to say he didn't want any new friends but the answer didn't come.

They moved out here two weeks earlier since she felt it was time for a change. The house was falling apart anyways. Well, it wasn't in that much of a bad shape but since Riku's dad had disappeared, she just didn't feel like fixing up the house alone. It just wasn't the same without him. Deep down she knew she just wanted to get away from her memories even at the cost of Riku's unhappiness. It was for the best for her and him. She diverted her eyes from his and nibbled on a sandwich herself.

He would of had an easy time making friends if he wanted new ones. But he was so fond of his friends he had, he never really gave the chance to others to befriend him and he'll find it hard to make new friends because of it. He just misses them to much for his own good.

"Mom?" Miyo was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice she was staring at him again. "You okay?" She turned her head away again and tried to focus on a grain of sand she spotted beside her.

"Huh? Yes, yes I am." She grabbed a towel from the big yellow bag she brought with them and got up towards Riku and dried out his hair. "I was just thinking of the times I went up to the lake and got as wet as you." She lied.

"Hmm." Came his response, chewing a bite of tuna. He fidgeted as she dried off his back and face and once again his long silver hair. "Mom! I'm fine..." He mumbled.

"But you're dripping wet." She protested.

"Don't you remember the part where you just loved the feeling of the sun drying you off?" he chuckled. She did remember and laughed a little too but her thoughts came back on her lie. She didn't like to lie but she didn't want Riku to worry about her, she was eventually gonna move on from that dark episode, like he did. Although sometimes she worried that maybe he was just at the beginning of it.

"I'm full." Said Riku grabbing the towel from Miyo and dried of his hair once more. He turned sharply to where he heard voices laughing. 

"Pass it here Wakka!"

Riku instantly rose and tried to see over the small dunes from where the voices came. He turned back to his mom who nodded in approval. He smiled and ran towards them.

He paused on top of the small hill and looked towards them. A tall muscular redhead was throwing a blue ball at a smaller thin blond. He figured that the taller boy was Wakka.

"Nice catch, Tidus." And noted the other one was Tidus.

A few feet of them were two girls watching them play and talked in light voices. A small brunette who fidgeted as if she was about to explode and the other seemed to be quickly stealing glances at another boy who was skipping rocks a bit further then the other boys. 

"Alright...Be cool." He assured himself and walked towards the Wakka and Tidus. He couldn't help but throw a small smile when he came up close and made sure they were his age. "Hey there." He greeted feeling dumb for picking such a dumb line.

"Hey there to you too." Said the blond throwing the ball back to the other and coming closer to Riku. Wakka followed him with the ball under his arm and greeted back.

"Hi, I'm Riku." It was so long since he introduced himself, he felt quite stupid. "And you are Tidus and Wakka." He said pointing at them individually as he called out their respective name. 

"What the...?" Tidus flinched and took a step back. Wakka looked perplexed.

"Heard your names from when you were playing." Riku laughed at them. He thought all of this was weird and they weren't going to like him but soon they joined in laughter. "Didn't mean to spook ya, Tidus." 

"Hey..." Tidus frowned but Wakka tapped him on the back and he began laughing again. "Thought you were a psychic or something for a second." He let out.

"Haha, ya, it was kinda weird." Wakka stopped laughing and looked behind him.

The two girls must of noticed him and came to join in the fun. The brunettes eyes were glued on him and the the red haired one was whispering something to the others ear which Riku made out as "stay put". 

"Hi, I'm Kairi and this is Selphie." She smiled at his and shook his hand. "We never saw you around here before." She looked at the others who shook their heads also not knowing him.

"Yeah." Riku's smile died and he took a stoic expression. "I'm new here, moved in a few weeks ago."

"Hey you must be that new kid who moved right next Sora's house!" Blurted rapidly Selphie. She then yelled Sora's name out towards the other boy who stood alone at the short.

The so called Sora turned around at the mention of his name and looked towards them. He smiled and waved back but his eyes were fixed on the silver haired boy. He wondered who he was while running towards his friends. All their eyes were fixed upon him and he felt awkward as if he was supposed to do something.

"Hey there..." He said awkwardly and turning over to the new arrival. "I'm Sora Everheart." He sticked out his hand.

"So I thought," He looked briefly at Selphie. "I'm Riku, Riku Darkhem." He let out a small smile and shook hands with Sora. 

"You wouldn't happen to have just moved into a white and blue one story house, would ya?" Sora questioned already knowing the answer.

"And you wouldn't happen to be the neighbor who lives in the white gold two story house?" He smiled back and looked around him. "You guys come here often?"

"All the time!" Squealed Selphie now only a foot away from him. "Where do you come from?" She asked all giddy.

"Not to far, Hallow Bastion, a small city not to far off." He said dryly and turned back to Sora. "Which schools do you guys go to?" He asked hoping to sound interesting. It was an odd feeling getting to know people when he knew everything about his friends from Hallow Bastion and never bothered to meet new people.

"Paopu High, we all do." Answered Kairi, who decided to sit down with Selphie. Everyone imitated them and sat around in a circle. Wakka was spinning the ball but looked intrigued by Riku.

"Hey, so do I." His eyes lit up and smiled at them. Maybe this wasn't going to be hard. They sure seemed to like him and they all went to the same school.

They talked for several more minutes amiably and shared their interests and how all of their summer went. Riku was pretty quiet when it came to the subject of his home town but no one bothered to pry in deeper when they noticed he was changing moods at the subject.

"Riku, time to go home." Called out Miyo from behind Riku. "We got to finish unpacking, we put it off far to long." She added as she reached her sons side.

"Sure thing, mom." Riku said happily and smiled back. "I guess I'll see you all later." He waved and marched away with his mother at his side.

"I'm so glad you met some new friends." Miyo smiled happily and hummed a small tune. She honestly expected it to be hard for Riku but it seemed that this day made everything easier. "Even if he doesn't get any more friends then them, at least he have a good amount." She thought happily.

"Yeah, I'm glad too." Riku said in a low tone. "Friends?" He thought. Sure it was what he tried to do but he didn't really want to be friends with them, he missed the ones back at Hallow Bastion, where he and his mother belonged, not out here on some endless sunny day island. Despite his thoughts, he turned around to notice them starring at him leaving and he made a small wave with the back of his hand and smiled, leaving them to the scorching sun and salty breeze. 

O-0-O-0-O-0-O

Sora walked along the side walk quietly after splitting up with the rest of his friends who decided to all go to their homes and relax and hope they didn't catch sunburn. He walked past the last few palm trees and looked ahead. There, his home towered over the smaller houses. Its gold white columns supported a balcony which was accessible by his parents room. He didn't have a big lawn but compared to all the neighbors his was bigger. A black gate with matching fence caged the house.

Most houses surrounding it were barely two stories high and he didn't know why his dad decided to build over this patch of land, he should of built it in Tuxedo, a rich community. He didn't mind being here but the house really did stick out and he was afraid of being robbed not because their richer then everyone here but because some people might not appreciate that they show off their wealth.

"Hey, dad." He waved over at him as he opened the gate. "Where are you off to?" He asked noticing he was about to enter his car.

"Business meeting." He got into the car and started driving away not bothering to even welcome him back home. Nothing unusual.

"I'm fine, thanks." He muttered watching the car leave. "Bye, dad."

His father is a very successful lawyer and works for a high paying company but the demand of his services there are very high as well so he isn't home most of the time. It is only him and his mom most of the time, even when his dad is home but naturally he locks himself and his office and works even but yet he dearly loved his dad and missed him. He wasn't a bad dad, just busy.

"There you are!" He turned back to the house and saw his mother on the front porch. "Dinner is ready. Come quick." She urged him. She never bothered inviting Sora for dinner as he always on his own time but she did it occasionally when she made something special for Sora or had a gift.

Sora skipped on the five marble stairs and entered his mansion. He said hello to Nana, the house keeper, on his way to the dining room. He turned quickly on the door and flinched back. There, his mother was taking a seat next to a woman with curled brown hair who was swallowing a bite of her roast. On the other side Riku was starring at Sora giving him a don't-look-at-me look. Sora, turning his face neutral, walked around the table and sat beside Riku and gave out a smile.

"Hey Riku, Good Evening Ms Darkhem." He greeted politely and scooped a forkful of potatoes inside his mouth.

"Hello, Sora. Riku told me so much about you." She lied. in fact, Riku hasn't said a word since getting home except for the occasional grunt of effort as he moved loaded boxes around the house.

"I'm sorry that we haven't come to greet you the first few days you came here." Miss Everheart apologized sincerely. "But Sora and I have been out on a small vacation while my husband was out on a business meeting, so we didn't realize somebody has moved in." 

"It's quite alright." Smiled Miyo taking another bite from her roast. "Thank you for the lovely dinner and inviting us to your majestic home, Yumi." She added, hoping that Miyo wouldn't feel bad about not greeting them before.

"Well, I saw you two working on setting the house up, so I doubted any of you were in the mood to cook a good meal." She smiled and winked at Sora. "So where is your husband?"

Both members of the Darkhem family stopped eating. Miyo kept her eyes fixed on her plate and Riku rose his jaded eyes towards her. Yumi's smile vanished and she felt a squeeze in her stomach.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, understanding that it must of been quite a recent event for them to react in such a way.

"It's alright. You didn't know." Miyo turned slightly and smiled briefly. "Give your chef my compliments." She forced a smile.

Both women ate quietly not saying a word to anyone. Yumi felt terrible about prying like that into their lives and Miyo wish she didn't ruin their dinner. Sora eyed Riku who seemed to have stopped eating and wasn't going to resume that.

"Hey, Riku." Sora broke the silence. "Want a tour of the house?" He asked, wanting any excuse to leave the table politely and get away from this sad and awkward silence.

"Umm..." He looked at his mom who smiled and tilted her head slightly towards the door. "Sure, that'd be great." And at that, both boys got up at the same time and Riku followed Sora out.

They left the dining room and marched along a short corridor that led to the entrance, where two sets of stairs connected to the second floor. All the tiles were rock solid and white. The windows were covered in deep blue curtains and in the middle of both stairs their was a red carpet with gold contouring.

"Sorry for the whole royal palace look." Apologized comically Sora, seeing Riku eye the statues and plants that were set around the room. 

"I think it's amazing." He looked around him. "Thanks for getting me out from the table." He flashed his white smile at Sora who flashed his back.

"Yeah, it was getting pretty awkward back there." He turned around towards where they came from and smiled as he heard both women talk again. "At least they seem to have gotten back on track." 

"Yeah." Riku looked back too looking sad. "So how about my grand tour?' He changed moods and smiled once more.

"Heh, where you want me start?" Sora asked, regretting using the tour as an excuse.

"Ha ha." Riku laughed and stood beside Sora. "Just kidding, it'd take you years to show me all the rooms. Lets go play outside or something." He added, hoping the "Lets play" part doesn't sound childish.

"Sure, just let me put something on." He walked up quickly the right staircase and Riku ran behind him. They took a turn to the right and on the second door to the left was Sora's room.

Riku entered and looked all about. His room was a light shade of orange with a queen sized bed pressed against the wall. In the corner was a 33" TV with a silver Sony DVD player and video games scattered about. A basket was filled with dirty clothes and two sliding doors were half way closed revealing some clothes on hangers. The walls were covered in posters of singers, movie stars and a picture of Sora and all his friends.

He approached the picture and looked at the people in it. He guessed it most of been taken over half a dozen years ago since they all seemed so young. he easily identified Sora, in the middle, Kairi and Selphie in one corner and Wakka and Tidus in the other. Their was a blond girl, who sat besides Sora's legs holding a note pad against her chest smiling. He noticed she looked a lot like Kairi.

"Kay, I'm ready." Riku snapped out of it and gazed over to Sora. Sora changed to a white T-shirt and red shorts from his blue T-shirt and black jeans. "Who's that?" Asked Riku pointing at the blond girl.

"Oh, that's Naminé." He answered quickly barely looking at her. "Lets go." He hurried out of the room.

"okay..." Riku walked out closing the door behind him confused about Sora's reaction but ignored it for now and walked back down the stairs. "So what do you do for fun?"

"We naturally go down to the beach and play frisbee or swim around really." He answered happily. "Unless Selphie gets into one of those moods again." He chuckled.

"What kind of mood?" Riku asked, stepping down the stairs curious. 

"Well... We aren't sure but we think she has an addiction to shopping but it could always be her sugar addiction making her so hyper." Sora smiled and laughed, remembering all the good times with her making Riku remember the good times with his friends.

"Yeah..." He jumped down the 5 marble steps. "Would you mind showing me around?"

"I thought we were going to 'play'." Sora imitated a childlike voice and grew large eyes. Riku looked at him in amazement.

_Could he be any cuter?_ Riku gazed at him.

"Well, lets go!" Sora started marching off. "I'm still hungry so you don't mind if we stop for a bite?" He added when Riku catched up to him.

"I'm starving!" He agreed and laughed along with him.

O-0-O-0-O-0-O 

"Checkers?" Riku observed the large black and white checkered building. It wasn't very big or anything but it seemed to tower slightly over all the surroundings stores. "Odd name."

"Wait till you see the inside." Sora smiled and giggled.

He was right, the inside was tacky. A checkered floor with small round tables all over. Hula dancing dolls were put here and there and a few figurines of Locke Hunter all around. Even the waitress's wore clothes from the 70's and had roller skates on.

They picked out a table next to the window and a waitress with orange frizzy hair and a pink polka dotted skirt came immediately and asked if they would like menus. Sora ordered a double chocolate latte and a burger. Riku asked for the same.

"Guess you come here a lot." Commented Riku and looked at the waitress roll away from them to the back.

"Yeah, me and the guys are always here." Riku wondered if he would become 'one of the guys' or would they decide they don't like him. 

Sora stared outside the window leaving Riku to his thoughts. Damn! Think of something. Gotta spark a conversation. He thought quickly through a list of things but found nothing that would work. This was so easier back home. But Sora came to the rescue.

"So how is Hallow Bastion?" He fixed his gaze on Riku's jade eyes and stared.

"It's misty and dark most of the time. We only get sun a few weeks per year but it's a very nice place. Everyone there is happy and since it's so small, everyone knows everyone and you feel like you belong." Riku sounded as if he was faraway in a deep pink bubble where he was happiest.

"Sounds like a amazing place. Miss your friends?" Sora hit his soft spot.

"Yes." His bubble turned all black and murky. "They were the best." He fell silent and looking quite glum.

"Well don't worry, you got me at least!" Sora smiled at Riku.

He sure knows how to make you feel wanted. Riku smiled and laughed. "Thanks."

"I'm sure the other guys will like you too." He added and laughed some more. "Oh, foods here!"

Sora thanked the waitress and drank half of his latte in a flash. Riku smiled at him and took a bite of his burger. "Mmm." Riku approved of the taste and took another bite.

"Since I told you about me, can you tell me something about Naminé?" He asked hoping to know what happened to her.

Sora stared at him and Riku noticed that his eyes saddened and wasn't going to say anything. He regretted asking it know that he knew it must of been pretty bad.

"Hey Sora! Hey Riku!" Boomed a voice from the entrance. Wakka and Tidus walked in and sat next to them. "What are you up to?" 

"Just eating." Replied Sora and and changed into a smile. "How about you?" He asked.

"We getting some fireworks, ya? Yuna Sumner is coming to town next week and we thought we might celebrate after the concert on the beach, ya? Wakka answered all hyped that the pop singer was coming to town. "It's gonna be awesome."

"Yeah, we're all excited Wakka." Responded Sora, genuinely happy once more. "Riku can come right?"

Riku's eyes widened, embarrassed.

"Ya, it'll be loads of fun!" Wakka cheered him to come.

"And Selphie will even be more annoying once she finds out." Everyone laughed but Riku who didn't really understand.

"I don't even know who this Yuna is and I'm not much of a pop fan." He commented hoping they won't mind his taste in music.

"Don't worry, her music is amazing, you'll love her no matter what." Tidus assured him smiling. "Now come help us pick out fireworks."

O-0-O-0-O-0-O 

After shopping downtown through out a few of the stores that sold fireworks, he finally picked one. Wakka insisted on him picking one making Riku feel as if he was starting to become part of the group. He didn't know anything about fireworks but the one he picked seemed to please Wakka and he bought it without question saying it'll be a great big boomer. After, Wakka bought a few smaller ones and Riku walked home with Sora.

Riku walked past the door to his house and looked around. Mom must of been unpacking. He thought as he noticed that all the kitchen and living room were set up but the rest of the house was just the same way they left it. He walked passed the living room into the corridor and peered into his mother's room. Hmm, wonder where she is, he noticed as she was nowhere to be in the house. He walked to his room, hopped over a few boxes and flopped into bed. Well this day wasn't so bad, He closed his eyes and attempted to sleep but he just couldn't. He was worried where his mom was, it wasn't like her to be gone from home to long especially in a new place where she didn't know anyone or anything. He jumped out of bed and started for Sora's home, maybe Yumi knew where his mother was off to.

Riku marched up the five marble steps and rang the doorbell. It wasn't the usual ding-dong but a more musical sound. Few minutes later, the door opened to reveal an older Italian women.

"Can I help you?" She said with an heavy accent.

"Is Yumi here?" He asked quickly guessing the woman was a servant. 

"I won't say till you ask nicely." She grunted and glared at him, offended. 

"Err.. Can you please tell Mrs Everheart that Riku and wishes to speak to her?" He asked, unsure if he chose the appropriate words.

"Certainly, young man." She still sounded unpleased by him but he ignored it. Moments later Yumi walked out to greet Riku.

"Hello there, Riku." She smiled and closed the door behind her. "Are you looking for Sora?" She asked cautiously and unsure of what to say.

"Err..No but did my mother tell you where she was going?" Now he was curious where Sora was.

"She said something about finishing packing but I saw her leave the house less then an hour ago. I'm sure she just went out to pick something from the store." She sounded more reassured that it wasn't about Sora.

"Oh, thank you. Did Sora go out?" He asked hoping to find out why Yumi sounded nervous whenever she thought this was about Sora. 

"Umm..Well.."Once again her voice turned nervous and unsteady making Riku more curious. "He is...Shopping! Yes, Sora went shopping."

"Oh, okay thanks." He waved her good bye and walked away wondering what Sora was really up to. No one would sound so nervous and uncertain of what to say about their own son going shopping.

He started for his house but turned back when he heard Yumi close the door behind her. He looked up to Sora's room and saw Sora's shadow walking across the large window. So he is home. He continued observing when he noticed that Sora had opened the window and climbed down the ivy growth next to his window. Sora then quickly ran towards the gate but stopped in front of Riku, surprised to see him.

"H-Hey Riku." He greeted looking back towards his house. "Umm... I gotta run." He started walking off quickly but Riku grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"What's going on?" Riku asked curious.

"Err..Nothing?" Replied the brunette.

"I thought you say you were my friend, therefor you can't leave me like this." Riku smiled but took a concerned look when Sora looked even more worried. "What's wrong?"

"I'll tell you later." The frightened boy pulled his arm free and ran away when he noticed the light in his room open and Riku followed him.

"Who are you running from?" Riku asked breathless when he caught up to the boy.

"He's back. He found me." Sora sounded terrified and looked worn out but he kept running as if his life depended on it.

"Who?" Riku felt panic rising in him.

"Him!" Sora yelled over his shoulder noticing a Silver car driving up behind them. "Run!" Sora sped up with tears streaming down his face.


	2. I'll Protect You

**-Chapter II  
I'll Protect You-**

That night there was no moon or stars but luckily for the two shadows, there was a thick fog covering a small forest not to far off from where they were. The short shadow ran straight towards the sheltering bark and the tallest one stood by the edge making sure that they were not followed. As soon as he made sure the coast was clear, he started off to seek the other.  
_  
__Dang, seems that he ran in deep._ The shadow sighed, feeling realived that they were safe for the moment.

He calmly started peering through the darkness, waiting to get accustomed to it. He marched a few steps here and there looking behind every tree and bush, making sure the other wasn't there. The fog wasn't helping much and making it harder to look around but he doubted the other would of abandoned him here, all alone.

"Sora?" Riku hollered hoping that the other one wasn't close enough to hear him. "Where are you?"

"Here..." Came a whispery reply.

Riku turned to see the brunette curled up against a tree right next to him. The boy was right behind him and Riku wondered how he missed him there. He took a step closer and sat next to to the frightened boy. Sora was shaking and shivering from tripping into a mud puddle on their run. Riku reached for Sora's face and attempted to wipe some of the mud but the brunette swatted his arm away and looked straight with at Riku with his sky blue eyes and Riku watched him with his jade green eyes.

"Don't touch me!" He yelled and pulled back further and started to cry some more. Riku kept his hand in the air, confused. Sora wept quietly, trying to keep it all in. "I'm sorry. I don't wanna cry."

"You can cry all you want." Riku scooted closer to Sora and attempted once more to wipe off the mud. This time Sora didn't swat it away. He circled his mouth with his thumb and the tear run eyes. "You alright?"

"Yeah..." He sniffed. "We should hide..."

"We can hide at my place." Riku offered.

"But he'll find me!" Sora's tone changed quickly into a frightened one. "We can't leave!" Riku didn't like seeing Sora like this. He looked like a beaten dog.

"Do you really think he'll look for you near your home? I doubt he thinks you'll run back, plus you can stay at my place, you'll be safe there." Riku got up and handed his hand for Sora who took it cautiously and helped himself up.

"Alright, let's go." Sora put up a brave face and made a noticeable effort to stop crying and walked by Riku's side, scared.

O-0-O-0-O-0-O 

Sora stepped into the box filled room with a towel wrapped around his waist after coming out of a long, nice hot shower. He looked around for the spare clothes Riku left him while he fixed something for Sora to eat. The brunette peered around for the clothes, eyeing the various objects scattered about. He found music discs laying around of mainly punk and emo bands which Sora never enjoyed listening to. A poster of Rikku from 'Tell Tails', a famous punk band that he and the gang always made fun of.

Passing by the last few boxes containing clothes, Sora found the pile of clothes left for him by the bed. He looked behind him to make sure Riku was still in the kitchen and not arriving into the room and quickly slipped on the black t-shirt and black pants. He then noticed that the two open boxes of clothes contained mainly black clothes and the occasional white shirt.

Maybe he's a goth? Sora pondered when he heard the boy in question call him saying that the food is done frying.

Sora walked past the corridor and into the kitchen and sat down at the table where Riku just finished serving bacon.

"Sorry, it's all we have." Riku turned away to clean up and leave the boy to his food. "Clothes fit you?"

"Yes." He swallowed. "Thank you...For everything."

"What are friends for?" Riku felt odd telling that to someone he barely knew and just met earlier today. He felt guilty and ashamed for forgetting his friends while firework shopping and hoping he'd be included into Sora's group. How could he forget them? They were his real friends, not Sora, or Wakka nor Tidus. They are nothing but strangers. Strangers he liked.  
_  
__I'm gonna have to tell him no?_ Sora thought when he gazed briefly into Riku's eyes. _He's probably gonna ask me about it soon._

"Don't worry." Riku started, hating himself for playing it safe instead of trying to pry into Sora's personal life. "You don't have to tell me anything...yet." He added with a smile.

"Thanks." Sora smiled, appreciating the thought.

"You wanna go to bed after?"

"Yes, I'm pretty tired."

"Alright. Want some OJ?" Riku said smiling, determined to keep Sora happy and busy and mentally noted himself to call Yumi when he made sure it was safe.

O-0-O-0-O-0-O 

BBRRRRIIIIIINNNGGGG! 

Sora grunted as he was torn from his dreams. He was surprised he was having a nice dream instead of a nightmare. He stretched and looked around him trying to remember where he was. Wearily, he looked at the clock which posted 9:00 in bright red letters. Sora didn't like waking up early but he supposed it'd be impolite to sleep in no matter what happened last night, crazy man chasing him or no. He got up and realized he was still wearing Riku's clothes and that their owner was no where in the room. Sora hoped he hadn't slept on the sofa but nothing said otherwise.

Sora walked down the hallway, passing what he guessed was Miyo's room which he found disturbed and smiled knowing Riku also got a good nights sleep. He steered himself towards the kitchen when he heard bacon sizzling.

"Mornin'." Sora let out a yawn and scratched his head not noticing it wasn't Riku in the kitchen.

"Well, good morning Sora!" Let out Miyo as she saw the sleepyhead walk in looking surprised to see her.

"Oh, hello...Where's riku?" He asked, noticing that his friend wasn't here.

"He went to the bathroom for a shower a few minutes ago." She turned and smiled. "It was nice of Riku to invite you for a sleep over. Bacon and eggs?" She asked handing him both platers, unaware of what really happened last night. Sora told himself to thank Riku for making something up and not calling the cops or anything.

"Thank you." He grabbed his fork and scooped up some eggs and bacon hoping to not appear greedy.

"Riku! Breakfast is ready!" She shouted over the bathroom door. "Sora's up!" With that said, she went back into the kitchen and grabbed herself some bacon.

"Take as much as you want, dear. His fault for being so slow." She laughed a little. "Hope you boys didn't mind me not being here, last night. I had to go pick up a delivery downtown and I got caught in a traffic jam caused by some idiot driving truck driver. Apparently he ran out of gas." She gave him a look saying that she was sure that that was far from the truth.

At that, Riku walked into the kitchen with his white hair dripping wet. He took a seat in front of Sora and grabbed the few pieces of bacon left.

"RIKU!" Miyo got up, shocked. "Your hair is still soaked! I'll go get a towel." She got up and rushed for a towel in the bathroom. 

"Mom...Don't embarrass me." Growled Riku, unhappy that Sora had to see this but the boy was smiling and that's what mattered for now. "I called your mom last night after you went to bed." He said when Miyo was out of earshot.

"Oh, thank you...Thanks for keeping last night a secret." He thanked and smiled at Riku.

"You are most welcome." Riku said smiling and feeling proud of himself but that was before his mother came back with a towel and started rubbing his head with it. "Ow! Mom!" Riku complained but smiled in the inside seeing Sora give out a little laugh.

"Now, see Sora how much work it is to dry off all this hair? I keep saying he should keep it short because he always complains that it's to much work to dry off so I have to do it for him or he'll catch pneumonia or something horrible!" She kept drying the hair off and seemed quite content doing it. She was one of those mothers who loved taking care of their child no matter how old and what kind of dumb things they kept from their childhood. "Sometimes I wonder what he would do without me."

"I don't know, mother." Riku joined in the fun hoping to make the other boy laugh louder which worked as soon as he started making faces.  
**  
**_**Ding-Dong!**_

"Sora, be a dear and answer that please." Miyo asked, not stopping to rub the towel round and round on Riku's head. Sora quickly got up and answered the door, convincing himself that it wasn't him but his mom. 

"SORA!" Kairi pounced on him and held him tight against her. "We were so worried about you when we heard that he wa..." She stopped as Sora was signing her with his face to keep quiet. "Err..was working late and forgot your dinner date you had planned." She made her best effort to appear as if it was the truth.

"Well I'm fine, Kairi." Sora grinned, and almost laughed at the obviousness of her voice. Even though he hates thinking of it, he can't help but laugh around it with his friends sometimes. Kairi and the rest of gang helped him out when it first happened, two years ago. And since then, he learned to laugh off his fear when he is around them. "But I was disappointed when he didn't show up." He quickly put on a sad face for a second to look sincere.

"Are they your friends, Sora?" Miyo scooted over next to Sora and eyed them all, smiling. "Well make yourselves at home and eat some bacon!" She exclaimed and turned around and started frying more before anyone could protest but Tidus didn't seem to mind and sat at the table.

"Thank you Ms Darkhem!" Tidus thanked and waved to Riku with his puffed hair. "Nice hair." He snickered and the others joined in when they noticed it too.

"Shut up..." Riku stood up and walked into his room.

"Good job, guys." Sora walked quickly toward Riku's room, feeling bad and leaving the rest of his friends to look at their shoes except for Tidus whose mind was set on the bacon.

"Riku?" Sora knocked twice lightly on his door and leaned against it on his side. "You okay."

"Yeah..." The door answered.

"They didn't mean to be mean." Sora sighed. "It's just a joke." 

"I know!" Riku now sounded furious. "It's just..." He turned around to notice that Sora decided to walk in to catch him naked. "HEY!" Sora quickly turned around and laughed.

"Bad day for you." Sora laughed and turned around soon after he heard Riku zip his pants up. Riku contented at glaring at Sora.

"I don't like being made fun of." He stated sharply.

"We weren't..." The boy started sheeply.

"Yeah yeah..." Riku didn't seem interested in Sora's reasons and put on a black t-shirt and walked out quickly without a second glance. 

"Hey.." Sora followed him but he stopped when his friends were looking at him confused. "I think I upset him." His friends didn't say anything, knowing they caused it, even though it was unintentional. Sora just pouted and chewed on a strip of bacon and eyed Tidus who seemed to not have noticed anything.

_Doesn't he have any bacon at home?_ Sora stared at his bacon eating machine of a friend.

O-0-O-0-O-0-O 

The white haired boy walked fast and aimlessly past the neighborhood. He didn't know where lead to where but he just wanted to get away from where he came from. He wasn't angry nor upset. He felt disgust and hate for the gang. He didn't like being made fun of, even if it was a friendly joke. 

Bunch of immature idiots...Riku felt so embarrassed about letting Sora see what his life was at home and hated himself for forgetting about his real friends and getting his hopes up. They don't understand. But how could they as he never told them anything about his life in Hallow Bastion.

_Riku was walking quickly by his locker when he heard laughing voices behind him. ___

_"Where ya going Riku?" The tallest of the group called but Riku walked even faster, "Common, you used to be so cool!" ___

_"Yeah, remember back when you were normal, we used to have so much fun." ___

_They eventually caught up with him and hit him and kicked him in the ribs. Laughing and throwing an insult here and there. They hated him. __  
_  
That happened 2 years ago but it didn't stop there.

The memories flooded back quickly, each flashing through his mind quickly and soon leaving place for another. He yelled at the air and forced himself to think of a happy memory. An image of Sora came to his mind. He was wiping away the mud from his face.

_How the hell is that happy? He looked like he just ran from death._ He thought angrilly and did his best to forget that image of Sora. 

Riku sighed and looked around. He had no clear where he was or how to go back for that matter. He felt like an idiot for rushing off like that. It just triggered so many unwanted emotions. He picked the route that looked more familiar hoping this one was the one he came through.  
_  
__I gotta put the past behind me and start anew. Hopefully they don't think anything weird about me._ He decided he couldn't be closed up forever and he couldn't leave Sora with whatever that was last night. He was now a part of it somehow.

He was starting to worry about going the wrong way when he saw something familiar. More likely someone.

"Sora!" Riku ran quickly towards the boy and hugged him tight. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Sora hugged him back, glad he found his new friend. 

"I acted so stupid..." He started to apologize.

"Wanna talk about it?" Sora pushed himself away and stared in green eyes.

"I don't know..." Riku wasn't sure if he wanted to say anything about it, ever.

"I'll tell you everything you want to know about last night." Sora bribed him.

"Well..." He really didn't want to tell him anything but he was dead curious about it and he would bet his life that his friends would never tell him anything about it. "Sure." He sighed.

"Great!" Sora seemed a little too cheerful for making such a deal. Most people wouldn't be smiling when they have to swap bad stories around.

Riku walked with Sora at his side who led him into a beach not far off from where Riku started to come back from. The beach was nice and it was a cool day so the sun didn't scorch as much as yesterday.

"Do you want me start?" Sora asked looking glum. Riku guessed he didn't really want to talk about his but their was no turning back now.

"Back home, at Hallow Bastion, I was liked by everybody. I went to the martial arts classes and played sports. I was nice to everyone and had loads of friends." Riku didn't smile when he said it. He despised those false days of happiness. "But once they learned my secret, they all hated me and I lost everything." He fell quiet.

"You said you had good friends..." Sora wasn't sure the secret was but he was curious about his friends.

"Yeah...They were the only ones who didn't care and helped me everyday to get away from everyone else. School there became hell."

"You said it was nice there." Sora said, he really didn't understand any of this at all.

"It is but my life was kinda trashed back there." He looked at Sora. "Your turn." Sora pouted since he didn't get to hear the secret but he understood why he wasn't saying it. What if he and the guys reacted the same way as his other friends?

"It all happened two year ago..." Sora started.

_Sora was whistling a jingle from a jello add he saw on TV while picking out a new shirt at 'The Palace' where he buys most of clothes. He noticed with the corner of his eyes, a white haired man staring at him from the adult size section. He quickly turned away his gaze to pretend he didn't notice and put back the shirt he was going to buy. The man never took of his gaze off him. ___

_He quickly walked out of the store to look for his mother who was supposed to be waiting for him at the entrance, but she must of found something interesting for she wasn't there. He looked behind him to watch the man exit the store and look straight at him. ___

_Sora panicked and ran out. He ran a few blocks panting and sweating from such a fast run. He was still adjusting his mind to where he was when he heard a car drive up from behind him. He saw, in the drivers seat, the white haired man. ___

_He took a quick sprint and ran towards his house as he remembered that his house was to the left to blocks after the turn. He ran for it for safety. He noticed that the car drove past him and take a wrong turn towards his house. He felt relief. ___

_When he reached his house he tried calling the police but before he could dial, someone pressed on the button that turned off the phone. He looked at the man; Tall, white-haired, tanned and he wore a black suit and tie. He already knew where he lived for he couldn't of come here before him without following. That was why he passed him when he ran. He dropped the phone and ran towards the kitchen drawers hoping to find a knife but when he opened it, it was empty. ___

_"Good thing I hid those sharp and pointy objects." He said with a voice a mocking parent would use on their child. "Sora could have hurt himself." ___

_Sora backed up against the wall and felt the man place his hand under the boys white shirt and started caressing his chest. ___

_"You are as amazing to touch. Just as I imagined." Sora felt like gagging when he heard those words. He was going to get raped. ___

_"And those lips..." The man bent down to kiss him but as soon as that mouth came to close to him, Sora bit the tongue that was sticking out at him. ___

_The man backed away yelling in pain, crouched down. Sora took the opportunity to grab his cell phone which he left on the kitchen table before he left and ran towards the front door. He turned the corner and darted towards Kairi's house for it was the closest. On his way he dialed his mom's number and told her quickly what was happening. At first she didn't believe him but quickly turned very worried when she realized how scared Sora really sounded. ___

_He told her to call the police and dad while he ran to hide in Kairi's home. He hung up and kept running. When he turned the corner of his house block, he noticed the man's car parked there. He must of dropped the car there so Sora wouldn't notice that he was at his house. ___

_When he reached Kairi's house and explained everything he called his mom again and told her he was safe and she told him that his dad and the police where going over to Kairi's house and their house immediately. ___

_Later, after Sora gave his statement and gave them as many details about the man as he could, the police let a guard stay there to make sure the man wasn't planning on making a second attempt after they left. ___

_The next day, the police called to explain that even from all the DNA the man left, there are no records of him found anywhere in their system._

Sora took a small breath and continued the story.

"We got Nana a few days later, she takes care of me and makes sure I am never alone and checks up on me every now and then."

"They never caught him?" Riku asked.

"No, he seems to leave no trace and somehow manages to keep getting in and out of the house without anyone noticing or triggering off the alarm."

"So that's why your mom was so weird the day I came." Now it all made sense.

"Yeah, the plan was that mom was going to distract him while Nana cleared the way for me to get out the front door but you rang and he was already getting in position to stop me from exiting that way so I had to go up the window. Then my mom decided to entertain you while Nana did her best to stop him. She has a black belt and a bunch of other fighting skills, main reason she got hired."

"Do you know who he is?" Riku swallowed some saliva as his throat became very dry from having his mouth open during the whole recitation.

"Just some random man who fancies me...But for some reason he never breaks or hurts anybody. Whenever I see him, he seems to be only interested in me and no one else. Once Nana jumped on his back but he just pushed her off and ran for me. It's like I'm the only thing he can see... He never tries at night for some reason, but I'm glad for it." Sora got quiet indicating that was the whole story. Riku noted that the boy was shaking and seemed to look around with the corner of his eye.

"I can't imagine how it feels..." Riku looked down, scared for Sora. "But I'm glad you told me."

"Yeah...Me too!" Sora smiled and felt that he was getting close to Riku. 

"Plus, I know martial arts." He stated and made a noise and kicked in the air. "I'll protect you."

"Really?" 

"From anyone and anything." Riku smiled feeling dumb but he was happy when he saw the brunette smile widely and hug him tightly.

"Thank you, Riku." The boy let out a small sob of joy and fear for making Riku part of this unpleasant life he led. "I'm sure you'll tell me your secret too, when your ready."

"Promise." He stared into his blue orbs and smiled. _Dang...He is pretty._


	3. Understanding You

**-Chapter III  
Understanding you-**

The last days of summer passed by quickly for Riku and his newfound friends. After Sora shared the dark side of his world, Riku always hung out every of his free moments with Sora even though the boy said that the attacks didn't happen more then once a month but the boy never left Sora's side when he didn't need to. Sora didn't mind at all and expected to see Riku every morning to watch TV and eat breakfast.

The rest of the gang were glad that Riku knew everything and didn't have to keep any secrets from the new kid and quickly got used to seeing him everyday. Selphie started cutting back on her sugar highs and everyone found her weird when she was quiet and kept giving her candy. A calm Selphie wasn't a fun Selphie.

On Saturday, only six more days remained until Yuna Sumner arrives to the city and Wakka was hyped up to the fullest and bought shirts for all of them with Yuna on them.

That day, Wakka arrived at Sora's door with a box full of papers and CD cases and called Riku over. Riku later found out when he was already sitting on the floor, that Wakka was planning on playing to him all of Yuna's songs and the papers were actually the lyrics so Riku could learn some of them by heart. Riku preferred something less pop and more rock but he didn't comment on her songs and just said that she was an amazing singer and Wakka seemed content with that.

After learning half a dozen songs, Wakka released him from this torture of pop blaring music and walked to to the beach together. Kairi and Selphie were sun bathing peacefully and chatting away. They gossiped to Riku about everyone they knew. Later Tidus came with a volley ball and Riku played a few games with him until he noticed that Sora was the only one not there. Kairi reassured him that he was out shopping with his mom for last minute school supplies but Riku didn't like that Sora wasn't here, where he could make sure he was safe. Wakka told him to get used to it since Sora liked to be alone a lot and shut him away from them every now and then for no reason. Riku could only frown and concentrate on beating Wakka at Volleyball.

Then came Sunday...  
**  
****O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

Riku's eyes went wide when he saw it, Sora was cornered and their was nothing he could do. It was the end, their was no escape. Their was nothing Sora could do to protect himself and Riku could do nothing else but watch. He couldn't move. Not yet. Riku felt his heart beat fast and his mind throbbed. He really didn't expect this to happen. Sora closed his eyes and hoped that nothing will happen. Now Riku could do something. He pounced on his feet and picked up a small object.

"Check Mate!" Riku yelled and placed his knight into the winning square.

"I Was hoping you wouldn't notice..." Sora flicked his king down and pouted but Riku was busy celebrating his win to notice the boy's unhappiness.

Both boys played chess all morning since it was raining down hard making it impossible to see through it. Miyo invited Sora's parents over to spend the day since it was far to rainy to go out too far and she hoped to meet the father, which she noticed wasn't around to much and wanted to know why but never asked, not wanting to sound impolite. 

A small tropical wind howled inside the house, The windows rattled and the refrigerator kept humming, all this making Yumi uncomfortable as she was used to her more modern house which made all these little things complete strangers in her life. Mr Everheart didn't seem to mind but was distracted by the work he had left at the house and wished his wife didn't make come here, this was the perfect way to waste time to work.

"I'm tired of playing chess." Sora was putting away the pieces wishing he could of at least won one game but he only got close last game but he got careless and exposed his king in hopes of cornering Riku's. He sighed. "Where did you put all your CDs?"

"By my closet." He pointed towards the sliding door and Sora quickly walked to it and slid it open. Once again he noticed all the black clothes and frowned. Didn't he have anything more cheerful? He looked around briefly and noticed the white shirt he was wearing on the day they met. It clashed with the rest of the black and Sora couldn't help but wonder where the white shirt came from. "I said BY my closet."

"Huh?" Sora turned around to Riku who was smiling at him. "Oh, sorry..." Sora gave back the smile but his red flushed red and felt quite dumb.

The CD box was right beside the closet like Riku said and Sora picked it up and set it on Riku's bed and started looking through it. Riku sat down on the other side of the box and looked at Sora discard CD by CD. After a minute, a whole pile of discs were laying on top of each other and none seemed to have caught the brunettes attention. Sora stopped half way through the box, bored.

"I never even heard of most of these bands." He opened a case and looked at the disc. "Who's 'We are scientists'?"

"A band." He replied dryly.

"Oh." Sora sighed. "You okay?" Riku flinched at Sora's concern. 

"Yeah." He sighed. "This just reminds me of home. You sorting through my music like like Axel always did."

"Axel?" Sora forgot that Riku came from somewhere else and had a life before this. By spending so much time together, he almost forgot that they only knew each other for less then a week. That made him sad a little. "You must miss them."

"Yeah, I do." He said without any emotion but he quickly turned in a smile. "What happened to that blond girl? You said her name was Namma or something." Riku pushed the box away and look directly into Sora's eyes making the nervous.

"It's Naminé." Sora answered, knowing that their was no way out of this one.

"Naminé. I'm sorry." Riku apologized but he really wanted to know who she was. Must be a good reason why he hadn't met her yet like everyone else.

"She wasn't very social. But she liked spending time with all of us." He started reciting his memories of her and seemed oblivious to the rest of the room. "She liked to draw and she was really good at it. She always had a pad of paper to draw on." He smiled.

"How come I haven't met her?" Riku started putting away the CD pile as it started to wobble in a threatening manner, warning everyone before its collapse. "Did she move away?"

"Sort of." Sora expression turned sour. "She got sick." 

"Oh." Riku never thought it was that bad. Riku now knew why Sora never answered him when he asked before. "Is she alright?" Riku started mentally telling himself lines to say to Sora if he said the worst thing possible.

"Kinda..." Sora got up and started walking around the room while sorting his thoughts. "She is in the hospital most of the time but she gets out every now and then when her condition goes back to normal but even then she has to stay close in case she gets sick again." He crossed his arms and looked out the window. His felt his eyes water but he was to distracted to notice Riku asking him a question. 

Through the window, Sora saw his bedroom window. He could barely make it out as the rain blurred it out and naturally completely blocked his view.  
_  
__Wonder if Riku ever looks up there?_ Sora smiled briefly, hating himself for thinking of Riku as a pervert. His gaze turned to the willow and tree and he remembered he was sad. He frowned. That tree is so big but yet all it was was a shadow in the rain. Kind of like he felt when he went to see Naminé. Seeing her so lovely and happy but deep inside she was sad and drowning in pain.

"Sora?" Riku was now standing behind the brunette with his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You okay?" The boy was staring at Sora shamelessly.

"Yeah. Sorry got caught up in my thoughts." Sora smiled. "If you want, you could meet her next week. She got sick again but she should be fine next Sunday at the least."

"Sure that'd be great." Riku let go of his shoulder and smiled. "Stop it."

"Huh? Stop what?" Sora looked confused and frowned when he couldn't guess what he was doing wrong.

"Smile." Riku grinned and pulled Sora's lips into a smile. "Now let it stay like that." Sora's lips turned slightly down but remained a half-smile. "Almost." Riku kept grinning and took Sora's hand and dragged him out of the room and down the hallway.

"Where are we going?" Sora let himself be dragged curious about what the white-haired boy was planning.

He led him through the kitchen where their parents were talking quietly and drinking tea. Both families seemed content except for Sora's father who was frowning at something he read on his laptop. No one noticed them walk quickly by and close the door shut behind them. 

Sora started to pull back when Riku was pulling him off the rain-protecting porch but then he let himself go as the boy was stronger then him and didn't even feel him pull back. He led the brunette on the driveway and turned around. Sora saw his lips move but the crashing rain muffled it out. Riku placed his hands unto his and held tight. Sora braced himself when he noticed that the boy's weight was increasing. Suddenly he started twirling in a circle with him.

Both boys twirled there, in the pouring rain, forgetting all their cares. Sora laughed loudly and started to feel his grip losing and went faster so they would fall faster. He never felt so care-free or at least in a long time.

Riku laughed just as loud as his twirl partner and smiled for himself, glad he was able to make Sora feel happy. He felt the boy spin faster and he mimicked him. Sora let out a yelp and fell down into the muddy ground and Riku got flung to right over the boy. Both laughed in the rain.

Sora looked at Riku and grinned even more. Riku grinned too. Sora was covered in mud from the ground and was trying to to push Riku away but the boy was lodged safely over him and was looking into Sora's eyes.  
_  
__He does that alot._ Sora smiled and reached his face up to him but Riku pulled back before he got a chance to kiss him.

Riku took his hand and pulled the boy up and smiled. "See? Smiling can be fun." Sora smiled but inside he could only frown. 

O-0-O-0-O-0-O

A_xel stood in front of the large building and was looking silently around him ignoring the small group of girls who eyed him from a small cafe near by. Marluxia was leaning against the wall staring his friend pace back and forth. Larxene walked up from beside Marluxia and hit the red haired boy behind the head. ___

_"Will you stop that?" She growled and walked back to her initial position on the wall. ___

_"He'll get here when he gets here." Marluxia was now glaring at Axel. "So relax." ___

_Axel gazed at them and took a spot next to the leader and sighed. Riku was never this late. All three stared blankly ahead of them thinking of how the mission would go today. Axel was the only one who wondered why the sky looked so grim today. It was always grim and dark but something didn't feel right about today but he ignored it and passed it off as stress. ___

_"Eleven forty-five." All three members turned around hastily to greet their boss. "Where is Riku?" He sounded angry. ___

_"I'm sure he'll be back in a minute." Larxene lied hoping the boy would show up with that dumb grin of his thinking everything is alright. ___

_"He has five minutes." The white haired man took out a gum and started chewing on it. He recently quitted smoking for his own sake but he had a nasty habit of chewing three packs of gum daily and did he ever hate the taste but biting down on something felt so good. ___

_"Hey boss." The man turned around to face the young teen. "Sorry I'm late." He apologized. ___

_"Late?" The man turned around to face Larxene who glared at Riku. "Well no matter...We got only thirteen minutes to get there." ___

_"Actually...I can't come..." Riku said slowly bowing his head down. His boss had a terrible temper and he already has hit him for being irresponsible or late. ___

_"You really don't have a choice." The man glared and gave the boy a mock smile. "Now come..." He was just about to turn but stopped when Riku told him the reason. ___

_"I'm moving away." Riku braced himself for a hit but it never came. He dared a peek just to see that his boss was standing still shocked but Riku knew he was thinking very hard. Axel and the rest were whispering to each other wondering why he didn't tell them before. "My mom had everything packed last night when I got home...She never even told me about it or I would of told you." He tried to convince his friends but they didn't seem to care. ___

_"You are abandoning in the middle of the project?" Marluxia growled like Larxene does most of the time but his tone was a lot scarier. He was their leader and made all the decision and was the one Riku owed everything to but he was only taking orders from the boss. He was nothing compared to the boss. ___

_"You said when you joined us that family would not interfere with this." The boss was angry but was surpresing it so much Riku could notice him chewing his gum very hard. "And you even dare leave us during a mission...Fuck! We're late. Move out!" ___

_All three members quickly walked towards their destination without a last glance at Riku. Riku felt like crying but couldn't in front of the boss. ___

_"When are you leaving?" ___

_"Less then an hour, I only came to say goodbye." ___

_"Very well, I knew this was going to happen." The boss relaxed and took out another gum and started chewing. "I got a replacement handy so you are in luck, I won't have to hunt you down." He laughed. "But I'd never come back if I were you and I do doubt the others will protect you from me." ___

_Riku nodded and ran as fast as he could back home. His whole world just shattered today so fast and there was no way to put it back together. He cried and swore this was the last time he'd let himself cry on the outside. ___

_"Riku, honey, what's wrong?" His mother wrapped her arms around him and let him cry. She knew why he was crying. His doesn't wanna leave his friends. "It's gonna be alright. Everything will be alright." She felt like crying to but she knew if she cried she'd get tired and wouldn't be able to drive towards the boat who'll take them away to Destiny Island. ___

_Riku stared at the window and waited for his last connection of his home commence. He smiled when he noticed all the lights in the city turn off at exactly noon, just as planned. But then it hit him. They didn't need him and they'll all forget about him soon enough as the new guy takes his place. He didn't want to leave his friends but it was so much worse knowing he'd be forgotten. He let the remaining tears fall. __  
_  
**O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

The boy mumbled as he awoke from his sleep. He tried to shoo away the voice that kept calling his name.

"Riku! We're at school!" Yumi now was yelling from the front of the car. "I hope you won't be this difficult each time I offer you a ride."

"Sorry mom..." Riku squinted his eyes and tried to make sense of where he was when he got out of the car. "Bye mom."

"I'll see you at home, Riku." Yumi was off for a job interview at some business building in hopes of becoming their secretary. She didn't know much about being one but the pay was decent and the job was safe. A unsafe job is what got her in this mess first. She couldn't let Riku know she wanted to go back to Hallow Bastion for he wouldn't understand.

Riku waved her goodbye and walked towards the central doors. He didn't want to be here and hoped to see Zexion next to his locker like usual. Then at lunch, Marluxia would get the car they salvaged together at the dump and they'd all go out for a bite to eat then for Marluxia, it'd be back to work.

But when he entered he only saw unfamiliar faces and walls. He didn't like it and was feeling out of place. Girls and boys turned their heads to eye him or greet him but he just ignored it and started creating a small wall around him.

"Hey Riku!" He took his eyes off the floor and grinned when he saw Sora approach with the rest of his friends.

"Hey guys." Riku quickened and join their forming circle in the hallway. He mainly did it for show so everyone would understand he belongs and he isn't alone and pathetic. Belonging felt good.

"What classes you got?" Tidus asked looking over his list.

"Science, math, French and bio all semester long." He read his schedule and frowned. None of these classes pleased him since they are boring subjects.

"Oh..." Everyone got the same classes but Tidus had French instead of English like everyone else.

"Wait.."Kairi grabbed Tidus' sheet and Riku's. "Riku...You're in grade eleven?" Everyone went behind Kairi to check for themselves and gazed at him after they confirmed it was true.

"From your expressions, I can tell you guys thought I was in grade ten?" He sighed. He really thought they were all the same age but this was bound to happen. Now he had to spend classes with strangers and his classes were already boring enough.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Kairi handed him back his sheet and looked around. No one was smiling except for Sora.

"That is so cool!" He laughed. "You'll be able to drive us and get into bars and..." He wasn't able to talk any longer as the bell went off. "Hm, guess we gotta go. See you, Riku." 

"Yeah...See ya." Riku waved quickly and hoped he remembered the way to his first class. He was glad Sora didn't mind him being older since the others didn't seem to enthusiastic about it. He sighed sorrowfully as he beached the door frame that he suspected was his science class.

As he entered, he noticed that everyone had turned their attention to him. Even the the old teacher seemed interested in him. He heard a group whisper about him and a pack of girls giggled in the corner of the room. He liked attention but this wasn't the kind he preferred. He liked when people listened to him and were interested in him but this was just spooky to him. Now he even felt more out of place. 

"Heya..." He waved when he reached the first front desk and walked to an empty spot in the middle. Everyone watched him sit down and get his things out.

"Class!" The old teacher yelled harshly and everyone turned to him immediately. "This is our new student, Riku Darkhem. His from Hallow Bastion and ya'll better not pick on him." Everyone nodded knowing their was an 'or else' hidden in his last words. Riku felt embarrassed that the teacher said that and wondered if he looked like a kid who'd let himself be picked on. "I'm Cid Highwind and you are to call me sir, got it?"

"Yes, Sir." Riku replied and tried to focus his attention on the chalkboard.

"Good." He smiled and turned his face towards the people in the back. "Leonhart!" The boy in question opened his eyes slightly and stared at the blond man. "You better stay up during my classes this time for I'm making them extra hard this year just because I'm such a nice guy." He grinned deviously. 

"Whatever." The brunet commented and sighed. The rest of the class grumbled and Riku guessed that Cid actually meant what he said.  
_  
__I shouldn't take this teacher lightly_. Riku noted and decided to be on his good side.

"Open your books to page ten." Cid darted out and started talking about the wonders of atoms and chemical fusion.

Riku looked around lazily hoping to find someone doing something distracting but most students seemed to be paying attention and examining their books. Riku he figured he should too but he never cared for science.

Riku eyed the brunet and examined him. He stood out for he wore black leather and everyone was mainly in blue jeans and he was the only one who had his head supported in his hands and seemed to be sleeping. 

"Squall!" Cid randomly yelled. "Open your bloody eyes or I'll tape em' open!"

Squall opened them but closed them as soon as the science man stopped looking at him but the same incident kept happening over and over again and the words kept getting harsher until the teacher started swearing and explaining why everyone who acts like him will probably be very unsuccessful in life.  
**  
****BBBRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGG!**

The bell rang during a yelling and no one dared to move unless Cid said so but Riku took the risk and got up. Eyes stared at him as he made his way passed the desks and a blond boy mouthed him to sit back down but Riku ignored it and walked passed the door and turned around to stare at Cid. The teacher stared back with a furious look and Riku smiled then turned it into a grin and walked away.

Everyone stared at their teacher, just waiting eagerly for him to explode but what happened next was something they all thought would only happen during a blue moon and when hell froze over at the same time.

"I like the kid." And then he dismissed the rest of the class who wasn't sure how to react and if the teacher didn't just flip. He never complimented any of them.

**O-0-O-0-0-O-O**

In grade 10 English class, Sora and his friends were sitting in the back of the room and whispered jokes which the teacher didn't find quite amusing. The blond woman eyed them and decided that it was enough.

"Selphie," The whole class turned their attention to the small brunette. "What in the world can be so amusing? Please, share it with us." She smiled to herself knowing it would put an end for it at least for the next few minutes.

"Nothing, Ms Brooch." Selphie quickly turned her attention to the front and put on her serious face but everyone thought it was a comical face since her face got all wide and stretched out.

"How about you Kairi? Would you like to share those delirious comments with us?" Ms Brooch kept smiling at the small red haired girl who just looked down upon her book. "Or may I continue?" Both girls nodded and the teacher went on about how Jack was a symbol of chaos. This month they were reading 'The Lord Of The Flies' and apparently a rock was also a symbol.

Sora had his head between his crossed arms and lazily laid on his desk hoping something interesting would happen. He eyed Kairi from the corner of his eye and noticed she was still looking down.  
_  
__Guess Ms Brooch'strick worked._ He closed his eyes and thought of Riku.

He thought back of Sunday, when they were dancing in the rain. It was more like spinning but it had a certain dance feel about it. He thought about the way he felt and how quickly Riku seemed to have changed it all. There was, however, one thing that he couldn't forgot about that night. The moment where he was going to kiss him.

Sora didn't think he was gay and couldn't understand why he would of done it. Besides, he liked Kairi not Riku. Riku is nice and seems to always be there for Sora even if they only knew each other a short time.

He did feel weak, though. Maybe that explains it. Riku was so understanding about Sephiroth and did the craziest things to make him happy again that he decided to trust him and he mistook it for attraction.

_It all makes sense_. Sora thought and smiled, trying to catch up with the work everyone has already started doing.


	4. Tell Me A Memory

**-Chapter IV  
Tell me a memory-**

Lunch time was the busiest time for Riku. The cafeteria was packed and everyone seemed interested in having him sit with them. In the front a group of prep girls sat together eyeing him and giggling, five jocks sat in the bag laughing like idiots and waving at him, and next to the microwave was Sora and his friends.

Well that isn't to hard to pick. Riku sat down next to Tidus who was ranting about how his classes were the worst anyone could imagine. 

"Hey, Riku!" Selphie shouted over Tidus who kept rambling on.

"Hey Selph. How was your day?" Riku was eyeing Sora from the corner of his eyes, noticing that the boy was blushing.

"Just great!" She put down her juice box and started canting her tale. "In English class..." Her voice faded out as he got lost in Sora.

"Sora, what's up?" He asked quietly but the boy seemed even more embarrassed then before. "You okay?"

"Yeah...I Just got things on my mind." The brunet started chewing his sandwich nervously.

Riku looked at Sora for a while longer but decided it be best to ask them when they were alone. Sora always told him everything but he naturally kept quiet around his friends.

"...I was so embarrassed. She's a real meanie huh, Riku?" Selphie hadn't even noticed that Riku turned away to talk to Sora.

"Of course. You'll get her back." Selphie smiled at that and Riku was glad he responded properly. Last thing he wanted right now was Selphie to have one of her mood swings. He ate his sandwich quietly, eyeing Sora. Selphie took out another bag of cookies and started munching them down.  
**  
****O-0-O-0-O**

After school, the gang walked home together and parted ways a few blocks down from Sora's house. Riku walked beside Sora quietly, unsure of what to say. Sora has been speaking very little to Riku lately and he didn't like it. He thought him and Sora were becoming best friends fast but apparently the small brunet can't yet share everything with him. 

Riku was about to turn down his driveway but he stopped in mid-turn, noticing that Sora was looking directly at him. Riku came forward and Sora continued to walk forward and the white-haired boy followed. He expected his friend to turn into his driveway but the brunet kept going.

"Where are you going, Sora?" Riku broke their silence.

"I'll show you." Sora dashed off quickly, leaving Riku confused. 

"Hey.." Riku started off towards Sora and the mystery destination. This was unlike Sora. Naturally, the brunet would just say what is on his mind, not show it in the real world.

Riku noticed they were running down the same path they took during the night when the man made his first appearance. He hoped dearly it was nothing related to him being back again. He never wanted to see his friend like that ever again; cold, lost and scared. It just didn't resemble the Sora he had painted in his mind. His Sora is bright and happy and without a care in the world.

Entering the small forest, Riku cautiously followed the sound of Sora's footsteps while dodging branches who threatened to scratch his face. Unlike at night, this forest was quite pleasant to walk through. He finally caught glimpse of the young brunet a few feet ahead. He was laying under a giant sakura tree where rose petals fell on top of him.

"What's this?" Riku sat by the young boy who smiled widely at him. 

"This is my special place, no one knows about it but me." He picked a few petals off the ground and threw them at Riku. "Sorry, I was acting weird lately."

"It's okay." He threw some back at a laughing Sora. "If this is your secret place, why did you bring me here?"

"Because I wanted to share it with you." He smiled. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure thing!" Riku was overjoyed that Sora trusted him so fast in such a short period of time. He felt glad. Glad that he made friends and it almost felt like he never left home. Perhaps his mom was right, he'll find happiness wherever he goes.

"Have you ever liked somebody but wasn't sure if you actually liked them?" He asked quietly and nervously ripped a petal in two and started on another one.

"How can you like someone without knowing if you do?" He replied, wondering what was going on in his friend's mind.

"Oh..." Sora looked at the silver haired boy. "Riku...I.." His head bolted towards the right. He heard a snap.

"What's wrong?" Riku sounded alarmed.

"He's here..." Sora whispered getting up. The boy seemed calm but frightened at the same time. He instinctively bent himself and readied himself to run. "Run..." He whispered softly and darted off.

Riku followed without a second thought. He knew the boy was paranoid but if he said he heard something, he wasn't about to disbelieve him. He knew what the thought of Sephiroth did to him and there was no chance in the world he'd let anything ever happen to Sora.

Right behind Sora, he could hear something move quickly across the trees to the right, something was out there and it was moving quickly.

"I thought he never came out in daylight!" Riku yelled towards Sora.

"We are far away from anyone, we'd never be able to hide in here." Sora yelled his answer back. "Turn right."

"That's where he is!" But Sora ignored him and went right and Riku followed without hesitation.

Riku noticed why Sora wanted to the right. Up ahead of them was a river and he heard splashing. He out ran them and hoped to catch them in the river. How was Sora so good at this? This must be affecting his daily life more then the boy let Riku on.

They reached the edge of the wood and Sora took normal walking speed when they reached the sidewalk. He turned around to look at Riku.

"Thank you." He took the boys hand and walked beside him nervously. 

Riku took a final look at the woods. He saw silver hair float behind a tree.   
**  
****O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

Once again, Sora had to answer questions from Riku. He didn't mind telling the boy about it but he didn't enjoy speaking of his stalker. The police can't catch him for he never leaves a trace and apparently has no physical proof that he exists. They searched but found no record of his existence except for his name but only because Sephiroth once accidently shouted his name when he received a hit to the head when a can of paint fell on him. The cops got the information off from a bum who witnessed the scene. It was pretty hard not to remember him as very few men had silver hair.

"He shouted his name?" Riku asked curiously.

"Yeah, no one understands why he did." Sora smiled a little and let go of Riku's hand when they reached the boy's house.

"Hey, look at the mailbox." Riku pointed out. The mailbox had a large envelope. "Maybe it's for me." He laughed and grabbed it and pointed at his name on it.

Sora followed the boy into his house, curious why the envelope was so big. 

"It's from Larxene..." He pointed out after ripping it open. He tilted the envelope and a small card fell out. It had a few scribbles Sora couldn't make out and Riku was reading the letter quickly.

"What does it say?" Sora asked smiling but he stopped when Riku glared at him.

"Get out." Riku muttered and started walking away.

"Huh?" Sora blinked. "What's wrong?"

"I said get out!" Riku yelled this time and Sora got up and left the house, stomping. "Fuck.."

Riku watched his friend walk away and he felt like crying. He shouldn't of snapped like that and he already regretted it. He sat down on his bed and reread the letter carefully. Maybe it wasn't so bad.

_Hey Riku, ___

_The boss is still fuming about you abandoning the project but we all forgive you. Well perhaps not Marluxia but he does complain a lot about your replacement. It really isn't the same... ___

_The boss would kill me if he knew I was telling you what happened the night you left, but you deserve to know, you did put all your heart into the project. I hope this actually reached you without being first read by someone else... ___

_The operation went well, we shut off the main generator and the whole city blacked out and we successfully got passed the museum's guards and retrieved the book. But Axel got caught and was thrown in jail, but don't worry, we'll get him out. ___

_I just thought you should know. Don't expect any more mail nor try to send us messages, Boss would have a fit and punish us... We miss you. ___

_-Larxene ___

_P.S. Zexion misses you a lot, started talking about it not being worth going to school anymore since you are gone. We all miss you, even the boss._

Riku dropped the letter and fell to his bed, crying. The letter was to vague, it didn't give him any details on what the book lead them to nor if Axel really is gonna be safe. He should be there and finish what they started. He sighed at the thought of running away to go back with them. But he couldn't. The boss would kill him for abandoning the project and coming back to get back in.

He got up and marched out the front door. First things first, Sora needs him and he needed to apologize. He found Sora throwing rocks at the ground on his lawn.

"Sora?" Riku approached the boy cautiously.

"Yeah?" The boy didn't even look up and threw the next rock even harder. 

"Trying to kill something?" He stood next to Sora and watched the rocks hit the ground.

"No..." Sora sighed.

"I'm sorry..." At that Sora turned, dropping his hand full of rocks and hugged Riku tight.

"Please, don't be mad at me." Sora held tight and cried. Riku wrapped his arms around him.

"I'm not mad at you, and I shouldn't of snapped at you, especially since Sephiroth just made another visit." Sora grunted. "It was news from home and it made me homesick."

"Bad news?" Sora pulled away and looked in Riku's eyes.

"More or less. I promise I won't yell at you again." Riku smiled. 

"Lets go to my house, got a new card trick I want to show you." With that, sora was happier then ever and Riku was glad he hadn't broken their friendship.  
**  
****O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

After reporting to the police that Sephiroth was seen in the woods, Yumi made some sandwiches and gave them to the two boys. She sat down beside them and joined in their game of crazy eights as she wasn't about to let Sora out of her sight. She never really could but he needed his freedom but whenever this happened she couldn't help herself but to stay with the boy for a few hours even after he has fallen asleep. 

She looked at Sora's closet nervously. Sora said he often came out of there even thought there is no possible way he could get in without someone noticing him sneak upstairs. She felt so helpless. As a mother she should be able to shield him from the pervert, as a rich woman she should be able to buy security but both fail every time.

"He isn't there, mom." Sora muttered and placed down a card. "I change it to diamonds."

"I know, sweetie." She placed down a jack. "Reverse." 

"Darn..." Sora still seemed upset about the event but he was glad his mom stayed with him after his bedtime and played with him. He thanked Riku too. He picked up a card.

"Thank you, Riku." Yumi whispered as she looked at him.

"I'm glad I was there." He starred back, understanding what she was thanking him for. They both understood that Sora was dear to the other.

"Riku, your turn." Sora whined, not understanding what was going on between the other two.  
**  
****O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

The next few days past them swiftly except for a certain red-head who could only talk about Yuna Summer. Wakka received the official Yuna Summer T-shirts for her concert this weekend and made everyone wear them. Riku felt like a loser for wearing it but Wakka seemed delighted that he was able to convert someone into "Yunaism".

Lately, Cid seemed to be picking on Riku for he never could answer most of his questions but the boy didn't mind for Cid kept giving him good grades and it made the class lose a good half hour with him yelling at him and Squall. When the bell rang, a blond boy grabbed his arm as he was about to leave.

"Hey, Riku." Riku turned to see the slender Zell Dincht. "You wanna come and grab a bite with us?"

"I, uhh..." He looked over Zell's shoulder to see Squall and a few other people waiting by the door for Zell.

"Please?" Zell smiled cutely, knowing it'd work just like it always did on Squall.

"Sure." Riku sighed and gave up and let himself be dragged by the blond to his friends.

"Riku this is Seifer, Squall..." He started pointing them out. 

"Leon..." The lion let out coldly.

"Right, 'Leon' and Quistis and Yuffie. Everyone this is Riku." He finished, smiling at Squall.

"Heya." He waved a little, feeling awkward.

They greeted him back and started walking for Quistis' car, all waiting to get away from the establishment known as school or hell for most students. They were those kind of students. Riku found himself being squeezed into the last vacant spot in the back, right next to Zell and Yuffie in front of him.

"So where are we going?"

"Checkers!" Yuffie turned her head around smiling widely. "You know it?" 

"Sort of." He remembered going there with Sora and felt a little guilty for abandoning him and his friends. "it's wacky ain't it?" 

"Yeah!" The girl giggled and smiled. "Aren't those little kids gonna be sad when they notice you abandoned them?"

"Little?" Riku raised his eyebrows.

"Only kids get that excited for Yuna Summer." Commented Seifer without turning his head.

"Yeah, but you guys seem to get along great. Are you a little boy?" Yuffie laughed.

"Stop it you two, their is nothing wrong with it nor them." Quistis scolded them but they just laughed at her because they knew she liked Yuna too.

"Shut up, all of you." Squall's voice stopped them all as they were about to argue and both sat down and looked out the window. Riku got the idea that Squall was, in sort, the leader.

All six of them rode quietly through the town knowing it wouldn't be any fun if Squall lost his temper with them. They learned that the hard way and Riku figured he better stay quiet too. Only the music coming from the radio broke the silence.

"We're here!" Zell jumped out of the car before it was even turned off, lighting the mood up and everyone became light-mooded once more. 

Riku tried to join in the conversations but kept backing out a lot. It was just like he thought, Getting friends was going to be hard. He guessed he was lucky when he made friends with Sora's friends so easily. Upon entering, Seifer growled, making everyone turn back.

"Not you again!" He growled upon the figures sitting at their usual place.

"We got here first, so buzz off." A familiar voice swept by Riku and he looked over Seifer's shoulder. Tidus.

"Do you really want to stay on the soccer team?" Seifer threatened the boy as he knew he'd do anything to stay in the sport.

"You can't kick me out."

"True, but I can easily spread a bad comment about you here and there." The tall blond sneered.

"Leave him alone!" Wakka got up and went in front of Tidus.

"Boys..." Quistis walked closer to both of them hoping to cool them down but Riku interfered.

"Can't we all just sit together?" He smiled at both parties idiotically. "There is more then enough room." The lounge table could have up to 15 people and anyone could have it as Checker's business never attracted much people.

"Sounds good." Zell and Quistis agreed together and hopped into the free seats. Squall took the one in the corner without any argument. Yuffie sighed and blew a raspberry at Tidus. Seifer growled and sat beside Zell. Riku sat down beside Sora and stared at the boy. Sora smiled. 

"Hey, Riku. I was wondering where you went off to." The brunet didn't seem mind that Riku has come with another group. The silver haired boy was relieved.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I blew you off..."

"It's alright." Wakka tuned it. "To bad it had be with these five..."

"To bad he had to start hanging out with you brats first." Seifer chimed in.

"Shut up!" Quistis muttered loudly, tired of the bickering. "Lets just all order something." And at that everyone gave the waitress an order. She quickly wrote down what they wanted in fear of having to stay in front of them while they fight again.

Through out the lunch, Riku found himself telling to his new potential friends where he came from and what he listens to. Unlike Sora's friends, they all seem to know and enjoy the music he listens to except for Squall who still hasn't said a word. He told slightly about his friends back in Hallow Bastion but held back a lot, knowing it's best to keep certain things secret. He was pretty much the main topic until Zell asked him if he played an instrument.

"No, but I do have vocals." He laughed. "Why?"

"No reason, our old vocalist left with our bassist." He smiled inside his coke cup, eyeing Riku's reaction.

"Oh." Riku looked at the other members who seemed eager for his answer. "You want me to try out?" He asked shyly.

"Sure, why not?" Seifer sighed. "Chicken boy here doesn't seem to be brave enough to ask you up front."

"Who else is in the band?" Riku laughed as Zell punched Seifer in the arm for calling him chicken boy.

"I'm the drummer, Seifer is the guitarist, Squall is lyrics, Quistis is manager." Zell chirped happily.

"Yuffie isn't in the group?"

"No, I'm just the advertiser." She glared at the blond boy for forgetting her. "Nothing important."

Riku smirked and looked at Squall who seemed bored out of his mind. He noticed the boy was following someone with his eyes behind the glass. He turned to see who it was but the figure didn't seem familiar. A tall blond with spiky hair passed by the window, staring back at Squall.  
Riku was about to ask who it was but he noticed everyone fell silent when they noticed the blond.

Guess there is something I don't know. Riku sighed and ate his fries quietly.

O-0-O-0-O-0-O 

At the end of the school day, Riku fell on Sora's bed and closed his eyes. Sora sat down beside him and examined him. Long silver hair, toned body and a tormented soul. He wished Riku would tell him what is troubling him but he wouldn't dare ask because the boy would of told him if he wanted to.

"Sora?" Riku asked with his eyes still closed. "Who was that blond boy?" 

"Riku..." Sora whined.

"Sorry." Riku muttered and opened an eye to see his friend starring shamelessly at him.

"It's alright, guess you should know..." The boy laid down next to the other and started telling him a story.

"All of us, me and my friends and Leon's friends, used to hang out a lot. We were two different groups but we were together often with Cloud, the blond, Aerith and Rinoa. Everything was going great even when Cloud was dating Aerith and Leon dated Rinoa, even though, it was more like she just barged in his life all the time but he didn't seem to mind." He smiled at hid own memories of the two. "Zack, Cloud's brother, just came back from his grandparents where he went to school for a few years before coming back to Destiny Island. He started dating Aerith and Cloud fought with him a lot. After a year, they both disappeared and Cloud found out by a letter on his bed that they had eloped."

Cloud was beyond furious and started locking himself up in his room and barely ever came out, 'till Leon went in and made him happy again. No one knew what he told him or did but it worked and even Leon seemed happier then usual. After a month, we figured out they were dating. We accidentally walked in on them and Rinoa was fuming mad. She got into a car accident and got amnesia. Her parents sent her to her grandparents where she could recover in peace but before she did get into the accident, she told Cloud that Leon talked about the eloping to Aerith and helped her make a decision. Ever since then, we all split up for some reason and that's the way things stayed.

"All of that happened two years ago." Sora finished and found himself crying a little next to Riku's chest. The taller boy had him arm around the boy and seemed to be dozing off.

"Night, Sora." Riku muttered.

"Night..." Sora felt weird being hugged like that but he felt comforted and thats all he wanted at the moment.


	5. I Want To Know Your Secrets

**- Chapter V  
I want to know your secrets -**

_"Who's gonna drive you home?" ___

_"I don't know...Where am I, exactly?" ___

_"Who's gonna call you Sunday morning?" ___

_"Why Sunday?" ___

_"You told me over and over..." ___

_"Where are you?" ___

_"I'm your only friend." ___

_"I can't see you!" ___

_"Isn't this pure oblivion?" ___

_"What are you saying?" ___

_"You're all alone." ___

_"No, you're here." ___

_"No...Look, someone is coming." ___

_"Who?" ___

_"You know him." ___

_"I can't see him." ___

_"Because he's over you." ___

_"Is he?" ___

_"Yes." ___

_"I still can't see him." ___

_"Don't you understand?" ___

_"Understand what?" ___

_"What do you think all this blackness is?" ___

_"I don't know." ___

_"It is fear." ___

_"Fear?" ___

_"This is the shell you created that day. A shell of fear, an impenetrable fortress!." ___

_"I never made a shell." ___

_"You see that dot?" ___

_"Yeah..." ___

_"That's who you let inside and look what he's doing." ___

_"He's growing!" ___

_"Yes. He's breaking your shell." ___

_"But it keeps me safe, does he want to harm me?" ___

_"In every way he can think of." ___

_"Why?" ___

_"Because he can." ___

_"Who is it?" ___

_"I told you, he's right over you." ___

_"I can't see anything!" ___

_"Just wait till he breaks the shell enough, then you'll see everything clearly." ___

_"Can't you just tell me?" ___

_"I'll tell you when you'll stop fearing me." ___

_"Why do I fear you?" ___

_"Happy Birthday, Sora." __  
_

**O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

Sora jumped from his bed in cold sweats and Riku was thrown off to the side of the bed, letting out a small yelp. The brunet franticly scanned the room with his eyes shifting from side to side. His hair was smoothly pulled back and his heart raced wildly.

"What the hell, Sora..." Riku sat up on the bed, trying to wake himself up.

"I had a...a..." Sora was trying to catch his breath. His mind was spinning with fear and confusion.

"A nightmare?" Riku finished, looking at the scared boy. Sora wore the same expression of fear when he first saw the boy running away from his house and Riku didn't like it. Hopefully the freak hasn't invaded his dreams too.

"No...A bad dream." Sora sighed and calmed down but still looked frightened and held himself in his arms.

"That's what a nightmare is." Riku smiled.

"No, it was just words..." The boy tried to explain.

"Just words?" The brunet nodded. "What did they tell you?" 

"Something about a shell made of fear and someone hurting me." He looked into Riku's eyes expecting to see humor but saw only concern and more importantly, sleepiness. "But it didn't mean anything, let's go back to bed."

"No, it's alright... You just go back to sleep, I need something to drink." Riku got up and walked out half naked. Sora looked at him and thought.

_Riku was over me...Wait, didn't I fall asleep on top of him?_

**O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

Down the hall, Riku grabbed a piece of paper and thought about what to write to Zexion. Laraxel told him not to send out any letters but he knew it'd be safe, Zexion wasn't part of the organization after all. He sat down in the kitchen and started writing the letter:

_Hey, Zexion ___

_I'm glad to hear everyone misses me and you all forgave me for abandoning the project and you guys. I heard you were gonna drop out of school. YOU BETTER NOT! One of us must become successful in life and we always knew it was gonna be you. ___

_I heard Axel got caught, you guys better free him and make sure he's safe. I'd hate for him to rot in that place. ___

_Don't tell anyone I wrote you this letter or they'll freak out. After all that has happened, I'm sure the cops are looking everything over carefully. .._

"Riku?" Riku's head snapped up to notice the small brunet standing in front of him. "What'cha writing?"

"Nothing. Didn't I tell you to go to sleep?" Riku folded the paper and walked over to Sora.

"I was wondering what was taking you so long." The boy pouted and put on a fake sad look. Riku smiled, taking him by the hand and dragging him back into the room.

"Sorry, let's go back to bed." Riku crawled under the sheets with Sora and wondered. "_Isn't it odd that we happen to sleep in the same bed with his head on my arm?_" Riku smiled at the thought and fell asleep quickly.

**O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

The next morning, Riku opened his eyes and rubbed his left arm. It was numb and from sore from having Sora on it all night but he can't say he didn't enjoy the feeling of having the boy so close. He walked into the kitchen and sniffed the air. Sora was standing there, dripping wet with only his boxers on and was making scrambled eggs.

"Oh," He turned to see Riku. "Mornin' Riku. I was about to call you for breakfast." He turned back and kept scrambling the eggs. 

"Thanks..." Riku rubbed his eyes and sat down to stare at the boy and enjoy the view. "Why are you wet?"

"Oh, I showered a few minutes ago." The boy turned to smile and went back to scrambling. Riku thought he was overdoing it but he wasn't going to complain for having such a cute thing to feed him.

"Towels mean anything to you?" He commented on the small puddle Sora is making near the stove.

"Oh, I dried myself off." Sora said but obviously the boy was in a rush for it didn't seem like it all. Even his hair was completly thick with water.

"You're welcome." Sora laid down Riku's eggs in front of him, beaming with delight. "Hope you like it."

Riku took a small bite and quickly regretted it. The eggs tasted like fish and were still in a semi-liquid state. He eyed the cook who seemed to be completely enjoying his meal. Riku made an effort and started swallowing it down fast.

"Wow, Riku. Is it really that good?" Sora remarked as his friend was devouring down his breakfast

"Yeah!" He put on a astonished face and went down for more.

_If I eat it fast enough, I won't taste anything_. He kept repeating those words in his head.

Sora smiled at himself and finished his eggs quickly too but he enjoyed them, unlike poor Riku who just wanted throw up.

**O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

Riku parted ways with Sora when the school bell rang. He sighed and started for his science class hoping Cid would yell at Squall for most of the time. His brain couldn't process any information at the moment and he felt like he was about to collapse.

"Memo: Never eat Sora's food again." He muttered down as he sat down next to Zell.

"What's that?" The small blond wondered what Riku just muttered. 

"Nothing." He turned and looked at Squall and Quistis. Squall ignored him but Quistis smiled.

"You look dead, man." Zell commented while he got his books out from his backpack.

"Just a tad..." He noticed that Zell passed him a paper. "What's this?"

Riku started reading before Zell could answer. It was a printed copy of the front page of the newspaper at Hallow Bastion. There was the picture of a small boy that was being pushed into a police car. His name was Roxas and was apparently part of a group of young criminals who call themselves 'The Organization'. He was caught after him and his group tried to enter private lab looking for certain ingredients. Roxas hasn't said anything since he was caught.

"Where did you get this?" Riku asked quietly, starring at Roxas.

"Was looking for things about Hallow Bastion and found that, thought you might be interested in knowing that." Zell answered quietly while quickly finishing his homework.

"Why would I be?" Riku felt a bit of panic rise up but surpressed it. 

"Dunno, sounds pretty big. It was even on the news here too." Zell mumbled before scribbling something down on his book.

"Thanks..." Riku folded it and put it in his backpack.

"Funny how that Rocksaz kid looks like Sora." Zell mispronounced Roxas name but he was right. Beside the hair color, there was barely any difference.

"Like they say, everyone has a double somewhere." Riku smirked and started catching up with the notes on the blackboard before Cid erased them and drew what he would do to Squall if he dozed off again.

_What am I gonna do? I can't just let them screw everything up..._

"Squall!" Cid yelled out...

**O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

Sora and his friends were huddled together in a corner of their English class working on their new assignment. Selphie was madly giggling after inhaling too much glue and kairi was trying to figure out how to draw a car.

"I hate these kinds of project..." Sora muttered while prying the glue stick from Selphie.

"Yeah, we always do awful." Wakka agreed and managed to make a tree who was gonna turn into a forest. "That only took like...what, 10 minutes?"

"Yeah, you're pretty awful Wakka." Kairi giggled until Wakka pointed out her car. She frowned. "Naminé's help would be well appreciated." She smiled when she made her car have eyes and a mouth.

"I miss her." Selphie sighed and dropped to the floor but started giggling like a lunatic.

"Why don't we drop by before we go see Yuna? We haven't seen in her since a few weeks all together." Sora suggested.

"Yeah, good idea, man. But this time, let's not bum her out with our stories of the outside world, ya?" He muttered selphie's name between two coughs and everyone smiled.

"Off topic here, but, what is this?" Kairi asked as she looked at their project. "I thought this was supposed to be a perfect park not a prehistoric killer robot."

"What are you on? Looks like a pretty park, ya Sora?" Wakka looked at it trying to see what the red haired one sees.

"Umm...No..." Sora scooted over to where Kairi is. "Yep. Definitely a prehistoric killer robot." Everyone moved behind Sora and agreed. Selphie collapsed laughing hysterically trying to ask how they managed to do that. The teacher looked up but knew it was no use calming the girl so she just went back on complimenting the other groups.

**O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

After classes, Riku walked down the hall with Zell by his side and the rest of the gang slightly behind them.

"You ready for the tryout? only two other people are going to show up but I'm sure you'll be our top pick." He smiled. "And by the sound of their voices on the phone..."

"Zell, be nice." Seifer smirked and pushed him away. " You better impress us cause we won't take any mediocre singer." He seemed to want to add something else but was interrupted by cinnamon hair. 

"Riku!" Sora flew by Seifer's face and latched onto Riku. "Let's go!" 

"Go where, Sora?" Riku looked behind him to see Wakka imitate a robotic zombie and Tidus stood there confused wondering what was so funny as everyone else was laughing.

"We're going to see Naminé at the hospital." Sora gazed over to the other group but they turned away their faces.

"He can't. He's going to audition for our band." Seifer snarled. 

"Well, Naminé is more important then your band." Tidus got between Sora and Seifer.

"Not to us, he doesn't even know her. We aren't friends anymore, Tiidus. Things change." Seifer stepped up to Tidus.

"Naminé never got a chance to change!" Tidus yelled out. Seifer stopped advancing and everyone was looking at Tidus. "She stays in that hospital all day long and all of a sudden her friends stopped seeing her! Did you ever even go tell her what happened?" Tidus was yelling at Seifer.

Everyone fell silent and gazed at their shoes, averted their eyes from each other. Squall stared at Tidus and Riku was looking quickly at everyone's expressions, not knowing what to do.

"Well, in that case: Riku, you go visit Naminé but be sure to be back before the end of the day to audition. Let's go." Quistis started walking away but turned when no one followed. "I said: let's go!" She growled and this time everyone followed her slowly.

"Well that was a mood killer..." Sora muttered and started walking away.

**O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

Naminé was sitting on the beach behind the hospital, doodling in her drawing book. Today had been a long day. No one came to visit and she had no treatments but all her hospital friends did. She stayed out on the beach all day drawing palm trees and couples holding hands. She heard a shuffle behind her.

"Tidus?" She smiled, turning around to greet him.

"How'd ya know it was me?" He bent down to hug her.

"You always shuffle when you walk." She squeezed back.

"Hey, Naminé." Greetings shot behind Tidus and the blond girl giggled at the sight of her friends.

"Hey, guys!" She smiled and got up. "How was your trip, Sora?" 

"You were right, snow is fun to play in." He squeezed her. "But it melted before I could bring some for you." He handed her a plastic bag of water.

"Snow water!" She giggled delighted at the gift. "How about you, Wakka? Excited for Yuna's concert?"

"You betcha!" He hugged her too. "I brought you her T-shirt." 

"Thank you." She hugged Kairi and Selphie while exchanging news. It always amazed them how she could keep up with the world around her and know exactly what they all talk about. It's like she was always there during every event and they loved her for that. It made coming here so much easier and happy. "Who's this?" She asked, approaching the silver haired male. "Never saw you before."

"Hi, I'm Riku." He shook her hand. "I just moved in next door to Sora."

"Well, nice to meet you." She smiled at him and gave him a quick hug. "Now, who's up for a day at the beach?" Everyone answered happily.

**O-0-O**

Riku and Naminé sat together near the shore while the others were still playing in the water. The sun was still high up so they hid themselves under a palm tree and talked amiably about nothing.

"Sora told me he's very fond of you." She told him while drawing Sora holding a white flag upon a sand castle.

"Oh yeah? I sure hope so." He smiled when he found Sora in the water. "It seems like we've been together through a lot even though I've only been here two weeks."

"Through Sephiroth's attacks?" She stopped drawing and stared at him. 

"Yeah, I've just happened to be there at the wrong time." He muttered, saddened by the thought.

"Hmm...That's how we all learned about him, well besides me." she gave a weak smile. "They were all out in the woods, after Aerith eloped, and they were playing hide and seek...Sora hid further into the woods then most of the others. Wakka found him when he was pinned down under Sephiroth. Wakka bashed him with a tree branch from behind but ever since then Sephiroth comes for Sora every now and then." She also seemed saddened but her bright smile still seemed to linger on her lips.

"He never told me that." Riku looked down in the sand, unhappy at the thought of Sora being pinned down under that man.

"He doesn't like talking about it." She commented.

"I've noticed. But I'm glad he tells me pretty much everything else." Silence.

"So, you said you're from Hallow Bastion, right?" Riku nodded. "That means you must know The Organization." He nodded again. "Zexion told me to expect you."

"What!" Riku glanced at her. Confused about how she knew about who he was and that Zexion told her about the members. Naminé giggled. 

"Don't worry. Zexion is my half brother and he kept me informed about the project since he learned about it from you. He told me that you left for Destiny Islands and you were moving in to RoseBuds, so I figured you'd meet Sora." She smiled.

"Oh." He said flatly, soaking up all the information and relaxing. "Thought you knew to much for my own good...or yours." He smiled.

"You must be curious about what's happening, aren't you?"

"Of course, but can I ask you a favor?"

"What do you need?" She asked.

"Don't tell anyone I'm part of...was part of the project and deliver this to Zexion?" He took the letter out of his backpack and handed to the blond girl who agreed to do as he says. "Thank you." 

"Now about what I know..." She started to tell her story but was abruptly interupted.

"Riku!" Sora charged at him and wrapped his arms around his neck. "You should go audition, so you don't miss Yuna Summer."

"Sora!" He pushed off the young boy. "You got my clothes wet and sandy." He growled.

"I'm sorry..." The boy's smile instantly vanished and seemed like he was about to cry.

"Don't worry." He sighed and picked up Sora into his arms. "I'll just throw you into the water."

"What?" Sora started squirming but Riku was strong and kept him tight. when he got into waist-high water, he threw Sora in it at everyones entertainment. The brunet came up to the surface spitting water and yelling at Riku but the silver haired boy was already on his way to Zell's house.

"Oh well." Naminé sighed. "I suppose it can wait." At that, she got back to drawing Sora but her thoughts were a lot less bright.

**O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

Zell's house wasn't very big or fancy but it had a empty garage where he could set up all the bands equipment and keep it there to practice whenever they wanted. Riku walked in as a punk boy came rushing out, Seifer was throwing insults at him for being horrible.

"Simon, you're such an ass." Yuffie was mimicking Paula and he guessed Seifer was Simon from American Idol.

"Honestly, I strangled cat sounds better then him. Come on!" He laughed. 

"Common, Simon, bro. You gotta give them some credit, dog." Zell chimed in as Randy.

"Finally, our last audition. Let's hope it won't be horrible." Seifer walked up and handed him the microphone.

"And what will you sing for us today, Riku Darkheim?" Yuffie asked. 

"Umm..." He noticed Zell mouthing the song he should sing. "Alexithymia by Anberlin."

"Let's hear it." Yuffie smiled.

__

'Don't try to wake me up  
Even if the sun really does come out tomorrow   
Don't believe anything you say  
Anymore, in the morn, in the morning

Bricks to this old house are breaking  
Steel would have weathered but now forlorning  
It's alarming how loud the silence screams  
No warn, no warn, no warning

Addictions fill the table where the family used to sit  
And conversate   
Conversate to the sounds  
To the sounds of a record player   
With it's jumping needle and the lights that grow dim over time 

"Stop right there. You're in." Seifer announced and everyone clapped at their new lead singer.

"Can I go now? Sora will be get mad if I don't show up in time for Yuna."

"I'll give you a lift, I'm going too." Quistis offered a ride and away they went after Zell told him to be here next Monday to check how his voice sounds with the music.

**O-0-O-0-O-0-O**

In front of the stage Sora and his friends were talking excitedly about how cool it is that they are goingg to see Yuna in real life.

"I got my own friends to see." Quistis informed Riku and was about to walk away but the boy stopped her. 

"Wait a minute. Can I ask something about the band?" 

"Well, I am the manager."

"Zell told me you had a very good lead singer and since he left all the singers that showed up were never right in the end."

"And?" 

"Was he Cloud?" Quistis starred at his eyes and nodded as a booming voice echoed across the room.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, GET READY FOR MISS YUNA SUMMER!"


	6. This Is It

**  
-Chapter VI  
This is it-**

_Working so hard every night and day __  
__And now we get the pay back __  
__Trying so hard saving up the paper __  
__Now we get to lay back __  
__Champagne kisses hold me in your lap of luxury __  
__I only want to fly first class desires, you're my limousine __  
__So elegant the way we ride, our passion it just multiplies __  
__There's platinum lightning in the sky __  
__Look I'm livin' like a queen __  
_  
As Yuna Summer sang her heart out on stage, Wakka was also pouring his heart out. The whole gang was wearing the T-shirts Wakka ordered and were cheering for her except Riku, who was still passing through the crowd in hopes of finding Sora.

"Hey...I'm in a band, I got my own 'gang' and I am best friends with Sora." He realized this as he pushed past some girl with a fluorescent mohawk. He did make new friends and he was fitting in. Perhaps this wasn't going to be so bad. "Mom was right again..." And that is when he bumped into the wanna-be pop idol, Wakka.

"Hey Wakka!" Riku yelled out but the redhead was to caught up in his singing to hear his name. "WAKKA!" Riku tapped him on the shoulder and even then the singer had a hard time tearing his eyes of Yuna.

"HEY! Riku!" He put an arm over the boy and dragged him closer. "Isn't she even more amazing in person?" He swept his arm in the air, marveling at her glory.

"Yes she is!" Riku agreed with him just so the boy would listen to him. "Have you seen Sora?"

"Sora?" He turned and pointed to the emergency exit doors. "That's where I saw him last!" And, at that, he turned around and began once more singing the chorus.  
_  
__Working so hard every night and day __  
__And now we get the pay back __  
__Trying so hard saving up the paper __  
__Now we get to lay back_

Riku walked towards the exit and found Sora leaning against the wall. The brunet was smiling and seemed as normal as everyone else but Riku knew something was troubling him as it wasn't like Sora to be away from his friends, much less be all alone.

"Hi." Riku mouthed the words, knowing it would be useless to speak out loud. Sora's eyes lit up for a second but then went back to their gloomy state. "Having a good time?" He yelled in his ear when he got close enough.

"Yeah." Sora answered the same way. "There's too many people." He admitted, a little embarrassed about it.

"Well it's Yuna Summer!" He put on his best enthusiastic pose, pretending to be Wakka but the small brunet didn't seem to notice. "What did you expect?"

"I don't know. I just don't feel safe." He shrugged uneasily. 

"Well this is an exit..." Riku pointed out and Sora looked up.

"I guess you're right." But he didn't guess what Riku had in mind. 

"So let's go?"Riku went through the door, leaving Sora behind.

"Wait up!" Sora yelled from behind, unsure if it was a good idea to leave the concert and abandon

_sugar, honey, sexy baby __  
__When we touch it turns to gold __  
__Sensitive and delicate kinda like a tuberose __  
__You know you are my treasure chest __  
__It's pure perfection when we kiss and __  
__You're my Mr.. I'm your Miss __  
__Gonna be until we're old __  
__This kind of love is getting expensive __  
__We know how to live baby __  
__We're luxurious like Egyptian cotton_

Sora walked quickly to catch up to Riku's side. They were walking away from the concert, down the path that lead straight to the beach where they organized the bonfire. Riku was slowly walking, turning his gaze over to Sora every now and then.

"Didn't you like the concert?" Sora asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah I did." He gazed down into his eyes. "But you didn't." 

"I so did!" Sora whined.

"Then why were you all alone and sad and followed me out"

"Uh..." Sora piped down and crossed the street. The rest of the walk to the beach was quiet. Sora was nervously looking behind him constantly which annoyed Riku but he understood. He himself was a little uncomfortable with the setting. Every time they were alone, Sephiroth showed up and he had to worry his heart out. He hoped he would knock that bastard out and send him to jail. Nobody hurts his Sora.  
When they got to the beach, Sora walked to one of the benches the gang mustered up and sat down and Riku imitated him. Both sat quietly and stared out into the dark sea.

"Sora?" Riku mumbled.

"Yeah?" Sora imitated him.

"Before Sephiroth interrupted us back under the tree, what were you going to say?" He remembered their brief conversation and was curious of who Sora was thinking of when he asked.  
"Nothing, I was just curious if you have ever liked someone more then a friend." He bit his lip. "Alright. I do like someone right now though. A lot." He smiled nervously, knowing he will regret it sooner or later.  
"Who?" Sora perked up and looked at Riku as he was telling him what life was truly about.

"I'm not gonna get the time...three...two..." Both of their heads snapped towards the dunes as they heard a twig snap...   
---------------  
The crimson haired boy sat on his bed and look grimly at the cracked grey walls. He found a small piece of lead in the early morning and wrote in large letters on the wall:  
After the fall of his prophet,  
Ankh'tat shall breathe into the holes of the world  
The earth shall tremble  
The skies will sink  
The sea shall turn crimson  
The air will harden  
And Omen shall descend upon the earth.  
-The Old Talmus-  
When the guards passed by, they read it and gave him a strange look, quickly walking away. After that, every few minutes, a new guard would pass by and stop to read it. Axel had a good laugh at that. They really thought he was some religious nut. Perhaps, he was giving a bad image of The Organization. But what did he care? He was stuck in a small cell with a toilet beside his bed. Doesn't get much worse then this. 

It only has been a few days but he understood why the best books came from people in jail. Anything could inspire a convict. In fact, this morning, he amused himself with a scrap paper for hours till he ended up ripping it to shreds.

Another guard passed by his cell to reread the 'prophecy' and stared oddly at Axel's inane smile, who stared wide-eyed back at the guard. He wasn't mad at the others for abandoning him at the museum but he was rather sad for being the first one to fall from The Organization. He always thought it'd be Larxene. He has already been questioned multiple times but he never breathed a word to them. Not like they could execute him, and he was rather enjoying his new jail life. It had its perks.  
For example, he had so many new friends who had many interesting and twisted stories to tell. He had a roof and a adequate bed. They fed him three times a day and it was a lot better then what story books told you about jail food. They even told him he'd get a new toothbrush every 2 months and they would keep his clothes clean. Way better then street life. What he didn't know was thst he wasn't going to serve the 20 years he was sentenced to.

That night, he heard footsteps outside his cell. He raised his head in curiosity of who it might be as no other inmate would dare wake up another in the middle of the night and it didn't sound like any of the usual night guards.  
"I was so made for jail life. I'd be like the one who knew everything and could come up with the master plan to get out and I would be the most feared and popular one at the same time and..." He snapped out of his thoughts as the steps became louder and he noticed they were in the railing, right above his cell.

He raised his head up and tried to picture the person but all he could see was the tip of his cell. Then a dark form fell down in front of his cell with a rope attached around its waist. The dark hooded figure rose to its feet and smiled. Larxene.  
The blond vixen put a figure to her lips and raised the cell keys high in the air as a sign of triumph. She unlocked the cage and took hold of Axel and got pulled up. Silently they landed on the cat walk and attached themselves to another rope and once more gold pulled up, past a window which the glass had been cut out.

"What took you?" He smiled, glad that they risked everything for him. 

"Oh shut it, we should of let you to rot." Larxene laughed and started out for the small exit they had cut out of the fence.

"Yeah, we should of just let you pay for your mistakes." Marluxia smiled at him and started off himself.

"Your lucky I love you all as if you were my own." The boss gave him an angry face but Axel knew deep down he wasn't mad and followed him out.

As they both walked back into the city, Axel noticed that all four of them were there except for Roxas.  
"Didn't you guys save Roxas too?" He asked quietly as they walked by the city welcoming sign. "We don't know where the cops took him. We even asked some cops and they couldn't tell us what happened to the idiot." The boss answered bitterly, obviously still angry that Roxas had talked to his friends about who they were. That's how the cops got ear of this and why Azel got arrested.

"Well, at least it's all back to normal. The original four of us. Just the way it should be." He smiled but Larxene made him regret it. 

"Original five...Riku was the funny one." And she brushed past him. And she was right, things weren't the same since Riku left them.   
----------------  
The roaring fire blazed high into the skies and teenagers were drinking and singing loudly on the sandy dunes. The party was going as planned and Wakka was still talking about how this was the most amazing concert of his life except unlike everyone else, he meant it.

"Hey, Kairi." Selphie detached herself from a group of boys when she noticed her friend sitting alone, staring out at the ocean. "What's up?" She plopped down into the sand beside the red haired girl. 

"Nothing, I'm just trying to sober up a little, some guy offered me a tequila sunrise and whoo!" She giggled and Selphie smiled. Kairi hasn't loosened up like this in a while. "But staring at the ocean was Sora's thing."

"Wakka told you!" Selphie sighed, she specifically told Wakka not to say a word. "Riku and him went out after the first song. They are probably snuggled up in his bed and doing it."  
"Yeah, probably..." Her head snapped up. "Doing it! What do you mean?"

"Don't you know?" Selphie looked amused, planning on how to tease her friend.

"Know what?" Kairi forgot her previous worries and was nothing but curious.

"Didn't you notice how they stare at each other?" She smiled.

"They are only friends, selph." Kairi sighed at her naivety.

"Wanna bet?" The brunette challenged her.

"twenty." The redhead agreed.  
As Selphie was examining Kairi's eyes to check how much she truly believed nothing was going on, Wakka arrived beside them with Tidus by his side and a blond girl,

"You guys will never guess who it is." His tone was challenging and smirked as Kairi tried a few names but got them all wrong.

"It's Yuna Summer." Selphie guessed as if her name was written on her forehead. "It's only a wig, not like she's wearing mask." She explained as Wakka gave her the most confused face she had ever seen. Like a dog with a twisted snout.

"Hello, You must be Selphie and Kairi. Wakka has told me so much about you two." She rolled her eyes understanding that Wakka was her biggest fan and he wouldn't shut up all night.  
"What are you doing here?" Kairi asked hoping not to sound rude.

"I wanted to hang out and have fun and that's pretty hard when you are me. Hence the wig." And she added in a whisper. "I sneaked away from my body guards." She smiled as the other girls giggled. "I am starving, however."

"Oh!" Wakka chimed in loudly. "We could go to checkers! It should still be open." He pointed in the direction and started nodding in hopes of everyone nodding too. Even though it was past eleven o'clock, Checker's owner always kept the shop open out of insomnia and boredom.

"I suppose I do need something solid in my stomach." Kairi giggled drunkly.

"Yeah, sounds good." Tidus nodded.

"Well, what're we waiting for?" The blond Yuna started nodding too. 

"And off we go!" Selphie grabbed Kairi's hand and started dragging her.

Yuna took hold of Wakka's hand and started walking slowly beside him. The redhead didn't know what to think. His idol was holding his hand. The most contact he thought he'd ever get from her was a slight brush of fingers when she signed an autograph. Yuna noticed his red face and smiled at him but that only got him redder.

"Wow, Wakka's quiet..."Selphie noted.

"Yeah, you'd think Yuna would of made him even louder." Wakka frowned at Tidus but the blond only managed to laugh.

"I'm just glad he isn't one of those freaky fans..." She giggled pleasantly at the fanboy. "Is that it?" She pointed at the checkered building ahead of them.  
"Yep." Selphie walked in first followed by Kairi, Tidus, and Wakka and Yuna, who were still holding hands.

Yuna examined the building as they sat at the large couch table near the window. The 80's style amused her. It was so simple. Nothing like the restaurants she is used to. The only thing she didn't like much was the checkered walls, they made her dizzy. She giggled when she saw the waitress with a red afro and roller skates roll in.

"What will it be?" The waitress looked at her watch to show them they were closing up soon.

"We'll have the double Elvis burger each." Wakka ordered for them. "It's pretty much like a BLT." He told Yuna.

"A burger?" She looked shocked but quickly braced herself. "Sure, I love 'em." She gave a quick smile.

"Hey, Tidus." Selphie started, twirling her hair. "Do you think Sora and Riku are gay?" She asked it as if was the most innocent of all questions. This was going to drive Kairi mad as they all knew Kairi really liked Sora since they were small.

"Uhh..." He looked at Wakka who started laughing normally for once and at Kairi who was scolding Selphie.  
"Sora, perhaps but not Riku. He seems like a ladies man"

"Kairi has twenty riding they arn't." She put on her challenger face but it was more of a cute angry stare. "You in?"

"Sure. Riku is a ladies man and that's that" Tidus agreed and took out a twenty.

"Ya, same here." Wakka chimed in and did the same as Tidus.

Yuna was about to ask who those two were when she heard the waitress' wheels rolling on the checkered floor. Her stomach tightened. She even began to feel stress as the waitress place their orders down in front of them.

"How old are you, Yuna?" Kairi asked thinking that the pop star should be quite a few years ahead of them.

"nineteen since last month." She answered gladly. Anything to keep that burger away from her as long as possible. "How about you?" 

"We're all fifteen. Cept' for Riku who's a year older but we all turn sixteen in a few months except for Wakka who already did." Selphie answered and took a bite out of her burger, making Yuna turn away quickly. 

"Isn't nineteen sort of young for a international pop star?" Kairi asked and lifting her burger up making Yuna turn away just to see Wakka take a huge bite of his.

"Erm... Perhaps a little bit. I sang for most of my childhood and quickly became a local favorite. From there I just kept getting more and more popular, I guess." She noticed that everyone was enjoying their late night dinner and she had to eat it too. She didn't want to give the wrong impression. As she mustered up her courage and held her breath and lifted the meal to her face, she let out a shriek, dropping the burger on her plate. Everyone instantly turned to her, even the waitress popped her head out of the back.

"There is someone there!" She pointed at the window.

All faces turned to see Riku move away quickly from the window and come in. Yuna was terrified of him. He was covered in mud and damp. He had a cut on his cheek which seemingly just stopped bleeding recently and he was panting heavily. He looked like some crazy woodsman who got cut by an angry drunk and lived to tell the tale. Well, rather show the fight results as he seemed to be unable to speak from exhaustion. 

"Riku, what happened to you." Tidus got up and helped him sit down as the older teen was trying to lean on the wall but his hand kept slipping down.

"I was... at the beach... with... Sora... when..." He seemed to be using every ounce of his strength to tell what happened but Kairi quickly caught on.

"Sephiroth!" She quickly took her cell out of her pocket and dialed 911 to alert the cops.

"Damn it!" Selphie cursed and quickly seemed to change from a hyper girl to the most serious person Yuna had ever seen. "Where did you last see them?"

"Ran to the...Woods behind Sora's...He had a car..." They all knew to well how it looked.

"Tidus and Kairi, follow me." Selphie got up and halted at the door noticing Riku's state. "Wakka, take Riku home and make sure he's okay. We'll meet you by the woods if you can come." She didn't even think for a second that no one really wanted to go into the woods because they all did. Ever since the first attack, they all figured out that sooner or later, they would have to stand up for Sora. No matter what.

"What's happening?" Yuna asked, both confused and terrified as Selphie and the rest marched out the door.

"I'll explain to you on the way. Help me out with him, ya?" Wakka slung an arm over his shoulder and Yuna did the same but with more difficulty. "Beats having to eat that hamburger." She thought as she dragged Riku out with Wakka.

"Hey!" Wakka turned to face her. "My hotel room is just up there, and I got a car parked out front. I could drive us around." Where she got that idea she didn't know but she didn't think she could carry him much further.

"That's great." Wakka approved as they took a left and started off for her car.  
----------------   
The three rescuers just arrived at Tidus' house and decided to get something to protect themselves and to change clothes as walking in high heels wasn't the easiest of things. Selphie took of her heels and put on some of Tidus' old shoes slightly disgusted but controlled herself as this was to save Sora and not some bad dare.

Tidus went down to the basement and got a few old baseball bats they could use and as soon as Kairi put on some of his jeans they were good to go.

"The hunt is on!" Selphie growled, smacking the bat in the palm of her hand. She was taking this seriously in a very scary way. Kairi knew she wasn't deranged but something about the way she said it made it sound like a game.

They quickly ran into Rosebuds and went through a few yards to get to Sora's house even faster, hoping that Sephiroth was still in the area. Destiny Island was far to big to hunt someone down and they were all he had because Sephiroth might make mistakes but he wasn't stupid. The cops all knew too well how he looked and his car.

As they approached the small forest, They clearly heard a motor humming somewhere deep inside and Kairi let a sigh of relief. Sephiroth was still there, meaning Sora is still running and hiding somewhere in there.

"Or getting raped..." She hushed the cruel voice in her head and plunged in first.

The forest was silent, which only helped to hear the low hum of the motor, even though they didn't need to hear it since hSephiroth left his rear lights on. As they neared the lights, they noticed Sephiroth looking behind a bush and calling out Sora in a sing-song voice.

"Oh, where could that little ray of sunshine be?" He was smiling, not that crazy smile you'd imagine a psychopath wearing but more a loving motherly smile. Kairi Shuddered at the thought.

"Hey, Sephiroth!" Tidus jumped in the illuminated area, brandishing his baseball bat.

"How do you know my name?" Sephiroth's voice was calm and his expression turned stoic, as he stood up straight, starring directly at the boy.

"Don't you watch T.V.? You are the most wanted man on Destiny Island." Kairi and Selphie came to his side holding their own bats.

"How?" Sephiroth seemed to lose himself in his thoughts.

"Doesn't matter. Once we knock you out, you'll be in jail for life." Tidus took a step closer to the man.

"No, that won't happen." Sephiroth glanced quickly in all directions for the slightest sign of Sora. "I have no interest in you three, go home"

"Not without Sora." Kairi argued.

"Then find him before I do." He turned around and started creeping away from there, searching through every bush and looking up every tree.

"What the hell?" Selphie looking perplexed, didn't know what to do with herself.

"Well...I really don't want to fight him and the cops will be here soon anyways, we might as well look for Sora and hope we find him." Tidus lowered his bat and trotted off to search.

Kairi stood by the car and called the police and filling them in while Selphie and Tidus searched for Sora.  
After several minutes of searching, Tidus walked back to the car and Selphie came back a minute later.

"No luck guys?" Kairi asked looking at the distant trees.

"No sign of him."Tidus sighed and leaned against the ivory white car.

"Ditto." Selphie came back with her eyes red and puffy but no one dared to notice, it would only upset her more. "Doesn't look like Sephiroth had any luck either." She pointed out as the white haired stalker came back.

"I see you haven't found him either." He sounded as he was actually worried about the boy and that made Kairi shiver.

"Why are you stalking him anyway?" Tidus asked as if it was the most natural thing to ask and Kairi's stomach turned into a knot.

"That is none of your business." He leaned back against a tree, seeming to wait for something to happen.

"Fair enough. Why did you shout your name in public when something fell on your head?" What is this! Kairi's mind was fighting with itself. To scream or not to scream? This isn't normal! You're not supposed to have friendly interrogations with the raping stalker!

"I have never done that. It would be foolish of me to walk in public." He commented, looking slightly intrigued into the questioning. 

"That's how a hobo got your name and turned it in to the police." Tidus replied.

"Must of been someone else...Ansem." His eyes brightened at the realization.

"How do you know?" Tidus locked his eyes on Sephiroth's lips but the older man knew he had already said too much.

"Who's Ansem?" Beside him, Kairi was fidgeting madly. She couldn't take it much longer,

"My twin brother. Though we don't look alike." Sephiroth didn't mind divulging this information freely. It couldn't hurt him.

"What was he doing around here?" Tidus was smiling. He was actually having fun. Kairi shook more.

"I can't answer that. Is something wrong with Kairi?" He was now staring at the girl who suddenly burst when she noticed he knew all their names.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH SORA? YOU SICK PSYCHO PERVERT!" She took a deep breath after screaming on top of her lungs. "And how the hell can you have such a civilized conversation with him, Tidus?" She now turned to the petrified blond. "This isn't normal! None of this is normal! We should of bashed this freaks head in!"

"Wow. Calm down Kairi." Selphie took Kairi by the shoulders and tried to calm her down when they heard a snap and a yell. They both turned around their heads just to notice a small crying Sora in Sephiroth's arms.  
Sora had fallen from the tree Sephiroth was under, straight into his arms.

"What a beautiful angel heaven sent me." Sephiroth started to walk towards the car and Tidus moved out of the way. There was something about the man that made the world seem to stop for him and Sephiroth knew it but he hadn't expected the red haired banshee to charge at him.

Kairi madly lunged at him pushing the man down as a loud bang ran through her ears and she felt all warm in her stomach. As she landed on top of Sephiroth, she felt her strength leave her body quickly but she dared to open her eyes and turn around, just to make sure Sora was okay. The sobbing brunet was scrambling into his feet in panic.

Sephiroth pushed her off him and stared past the car, where Selphie and Tidus had already noticed the new arrivals.

"Wakka?" Tidus whispered, not believing what just happened. Yuna was there with him, holding a gun.


End file.
